I got a text from Salem in the middle of the day. Go meet with Jacinta before the coming halfmoon. I'd been planning on taking a trip back down to see Pavel and do a little horse trading, so I decided to knock out the meeting with Jacinta before I left--just in case I was later getting back than I thought I might be.
I have to admit, the inner rebel in me wanted to text Salem back that, sorry, I was going on a business trip and couldn't meet with her when it happened to be convenient with her. But, over the years, I've managed to put a lid on that inner rebel. Besides, we're mostly on the same team.
Mostly.
The meeting went pretty well, I think. She was out in the meadow behind the farmhouse, meditating near the bank. I came over and joined her, sitting down close enough to her that I could have reached out and touched her--and vice versa. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about that, but I thought it might show trust on my part. Even though I think trusting an ahroun on a near-full moon is probably a recipe for disaster, given time and opportunities to trigger a frenzy. I have to wonder if she'd be afraid of me if she knew what I could do if I set aside my morals and just cut loose? I know I'd be afraid of me. But that's one reason I try to play my cards close to my chest. Look useful but non-threatening. It's... kind of the complete opposite of how the garou do business. Huh.
Right. The meeting. Well, it sounds like Jacinta has taken over the entire sept. I guess she is both Warder and Alpha right now, which seems like a tremendous amount of power being consolidated into one individual, perhaps with little or no checks and balances. I don't know her all that well, but Salem speaks very highly of her--and she has an almost palpable sense of duty about her. She'll do what's right--or her perception of what is right--so long as the garou, sept, and caern are the foremost consideration in any decision she makes. So, basically, I can expect that she'll be very biased and self-serving. And while that's not precisely a bad thing in this instance, it's something I need to keep in mind--because I'm not in that circle of self-interest. Not with Jacinta, at least. I think. Time will tell and likely depend on her ability to see me as an asset. Hopefully a valuable one.
Salem, it would seem, is now beta for the sept. I feel like I need to send him both a congratulations card and a sympathy card. But, honestly, I think this is a good choice. Jacinta is woods-oriented and Salem is city-oriented. There's balance and symmetry here. I do, however, find it surprising that there's been a deviation from tradition. I thought the garou were all about tradition? But I suppose this ties in with my theory about tradition-drift due to their cultural grounding being so reliant on oral histories, which is guaranteed to get twisted and embellished instead of remaining static and easily referenced.
Jacinta and I revisted my offer with respect to marking the nodes (excluding the caern) in the woods around the bawn. She seems open to it, so that's good. I was half tempted to tell her flat out that I was fully capable of just taking the energy I wanted from the nodes without ever setting foot in the woods, to point out that, hey, look, I've been respecting the garou's territory for years and years now. But I decided against it. That's the kind of information that might piss an ahroun off under a full moon, even when it's meant as a "see, you can trust me" sort of statement. She said to come back in about six weeks or so when the moon was thin. And she asked me to help support Salem in the city. I informed her I'd already been doing so.
We ended the meeting. I got up and /almost/ gave her a congenial pat on the shoulder--then I came to my senses and didn't. I wandered off, then she turned into a wolf--pregnant(?!?!)--and went back into the forest. Shapeshifting--even if it's technically only between five different static forms--is still an impressive feat. So yeah, I had to watch that. It does not get old.
I wonder if I could trade something for a shapeshifting talisman or charm from Pavel? THAT would be an interesting experience. And I'm so damn abysmal with Life magic I'll almost certainly never be able to pull one of those tricks off in my lifetime.
Speaking of Pavel, Salem texted while I was in the process of packing up the Suburban--which I have named "The Beast"--to make a return trip to see Pavel. He has a book he thinks I need. I have books he thinks he wants or can trade. Done and done. I have to admit that I did eye that "garou dissertation" that pointed out all kinds of ley lines and places of power--theoretical and actual. I bet I could get a bad-ass talisman from Pavel in exchange for that. But I'm worried about that falling into the wrong hands. Instead, I packed up a crapload of my really good books. Maybe Pavel will trade me something for some of it. Maybe he won't. We'll see. I also tapped into my tass reserves--and I'm swinging by that Corax glade Val showed me to harvest more tass from there before I head out. Note to self: watch for tails after I leave. Damn Corax are so damn nosy.
Just finished sending texts and voice messages to people who'd care about my absence--minus Silvertip, who has no phone--so they don't worry about me.
Wow. It just occurred to me that my dad isn't on that list. Never has been. Just Emma, Val, Ila, Charley, and Salem. I should be sad about that, but I think I've fully accepted the fact that "family" is not necessarily "blood relative."
I have to admit, the inner rebel in me wanted to text Salem back that, sorry, I was going on a business trip and couldn't meet with her when it happened to be convenient with her. But, over the years, I've managed to put a lid on that inner rebel. Besides, we're mostly on the same team.
Mostly.
The meeting went pretty well, I think. She was out in the meadow behind the farmhouse, meditating near the bank. I came over and joined her, sitting down close enough to her that I could have reached out and touched her--and vice versa. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about that, but I thought it might show trust on my part. Even though I think trusting an ahroun on a near-full moon is probably a recipe for disaster, given time and opportunities to trigger a frenzy. I have to wonder if she'd be afraid of me if she knew what I could do if I set aside my morals and just cut loose? I know I'd be afraid of me. But that's one reason I try to play my cards close to my chest. Look useful but non-threatening. It's... kind of the complete opposite of how the garou do business. Huh.
Right. The meeting. Well, it sounds like Jacinta has taken over the entire sept. I guess she is both Warder and Alpha right now, which seems like a tremendous amount of power being consolidated into one individual, perhaps with little or no checks and balances. I don't know her all that well, but Salem speaks very highly of her--and she has an almost palpable sense of duty about her. She'll do what's right--or her perception of what is right--so long as the garou, sept, and caern are the foremost consideration in any decision she makes. So, basically, I can expect that she'll be very biased and self-serving. And while that's not precisely a bad thing in this instance, it's something I need to keep in mind--because I'm not in that circle of self-interest. Not with Jacinta, at least. I think. Time will tell and likely depend on her ability to see me as an asset. Hopefully a valuable one.
Salem, it would seem, is now beta for the sept. I feel like I need to send him both a congratulations card and a sympathy card. But, honestly, I think this is a good choice. Jacinta is woods-oriented and Salem is city-oriented. There's balance and symmetry here. I do, however, find it surprising that there's been a deviation from tradition. I thought the garou were all about tradition? But I suppose this ties in with my theory about tradition-drift due to their cultural grounding being so reliant on oral histories, which is guaranteed to get twisted and embellished instead of remaining static and easily referenced.
Jacinta and I revisted my offer with respect to marking the nodes (excluding the caern) in the woods around the bawn. She seems open to it, so that's good. I was half tempted to tell her flat out that I was fully capable of just taking the energy I wanted from the nodes without ever setting foot in the woods, to point out that, hey, look, I've been respecting the garou's territory for years and years now. But I decided against it. That's the kind of information that might piss an ahroun off under a full moon, even when it's meant as a "see, you can trust me" sort of statement. She said to come back in about six weeks or so when the moon was thin. And she asked me to help support Salem in the city. I informed her I'd already been doing so.
We ended the meeting. I got up and /almost/ gave her a congenial pat on the shoulder--then I came to my senses and didn't. I wandered off, then she turned into a wolf--pregnant(?!?!)--and went back into the forest. Shapeshifting--even if it's technically only between five different static forms--is still an impressive feat. So yeah, I had to watch that. It does not get old.
I wonder if I could trade something for a shapeshifting talisman or charm from Pavel? THAT would be an interesting experience. And I'm so damn abysmal with Life magic I'll almost certainly never be able to pull one of those tricks off in my lifetime.
Speaking of Pavel, Salem texted while I was in the process of packing up the Suburban--which I have named "The Beast"--to make a return trip to see Pavel. He has a book he thinks I need. I have books he thinks he wants or can trade. Done and done. I have to admit that I did eye that "garou dissertation" that pointed out all kinds of ley lines and places of power--theoretical and actual. I bet I could get a bad-ass talisman from Pavel in exchange for that. But I'm worried about that falling into the wrong hands. Instead, I packed up a crapload of my really good books. Maybe Pavel will trade me something for some of it. Maybe he won't. We'll see. I also tapped into my tass reserves--and I'm swinging by that Corax glade Val showed me to harvest more tass from there before I head out. Note to self: watch for tails after I leave. Damn Corax are so damn nosy.
Just finished sending texts and voice messages to people who'd care about my absence--minus Silvertip, who has no phone--so they don't worry about me.
Wow. It just occurred to me that my dad isn't on that list. Never has been. Just Emma, Val, Ila, Charley, and Salem. I should be sad about that, but I think I've fully accepted the fact that "family" is not necessarily "blood relative."