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Saturday, May 3--Insurance fraud, corporate wolf.
Long story made short, I reported my Porsche, which I'd sold to an illegal chop shop, as being stolen so I could collect the insurance money. It turns out that I made a net profit off that car because I was able to buy it so cheap to begin with. Hurray for knowing how the cops and insurance people work, from the inside, as that made the whole thing pretty easy for me.
In between all the calls and forms, I caught up on some work for Terminus. The stock portfolio I'd put together last week in anticipation of the riots/spiral thing spreading is already up 4.6%. The other week, Mr. Lee said I sounded like a corporate wolf, which is a term used to describe business-savvy Glass Walkers. I like making money for the tribe. And myself. And the mages I contacted with my stock tips the other week.
Sunday, May 4--Studying LOLcat, a productive talk with Silvertip, and feeling dirty
Alternating catnip, treats, cat toys, and mental impulse nudges, I got to spend a good deal of time observing LOLcat moving about. I think I've processed the walk and the run, but the leaps and erratic maneuvers? There's a lot going on there. When the moon is fuller, I may see about spending several days--or a week--as a Cougar. An open window should allow access to and from the cabin, and I'll have to lock LOLcat up in the downstairs bathroom with a supply of food and water and a nice pile of clothes to sleep/puke on.
Huh. I suppose it might be possible to turn into a cougar and just stay in that form forever. That's an interesting concept. Not exactly one I ever intend to explore, but it's an idea that's interesting to contemplate from a theoretical perspective.
That evening, Silvertip came by, howled, and I let her in for a visit. She asked about how the trip went and if I'd managed something in the trade. I claimed I didn't do so well. (I do feel like I got shafted with that stupid book written by a Celestial Chorister.) I didn't mention the ring, as I'm not sure how Silvertip would have reacted to that. I did mention the chimera spirit "familiar", though. I mentioned I wasn't very versed on how these relationships worked and quipped that I felt like a young boy asking someone for advice about getting a girl to like me, and Silvertip nearly busted a gut laughing at that analogy. (Maybe you had to be there?) Silvertip did offer some profound advice: "How you treat it is how it grows." If you use it like a mentor, it becomes a mentor. Use it like a friend, it becomes a friend. Use it like something to barter with and it becomes something to barter with. And in changing it, it can also change you.
Now I'm not saying that what works for the garou works for the warpers, because maybe it's totally different, but what Silvertip said certainly makes sense. I see the chimera spirit as kind of an umbral guide and ally. Maybe a bit of a mentor for things related to the spirit world? I will have to be careful that the spirit does not change me, though... Technically? By even interacting with anything at all, does that not change you to some extent? Perhaps it is a matter of degrees and not losing oneself? I don't think there's a danger of losing myself.
She recommended a book--"Our Way of Making Prayer"--about how the Yup'ik see and interact with spirits. A small part of me wonders if Silvertip is attempting to shape me into a Yup'ik-style shaman.
We talked about Val, how Silvertip had figured out it was her who had trespassed in her mind, and trust. I told Silvertip I trusted Val to do what Val thought was the correct thing to do, and that what is correct in her mind frequently mirrored what I believed the garou perceived to be correct--even though it was not always correct. My mistrust of her, ironically, was the fact that I trusted her to go tell other corax about anything she learned--especially secrets or things that looked like secrets. When she learned about me, she never told the garou, but she did tell the corax--and even warned me that i might get corax visitors passing by who would stop over for a bit. So I trust her to not keep secrets and otherwise to act largely along the same lines as the garou do, save that she is not a keen fighter unless her passions overwhelm her rationality, which does happen from time to time. In short? Don't trust her with any secrets or things you'd rather not have shared.
Silvertip seemed to agree with my assessment of Val, but was still irritated that she dreamwalked her without permission and then went and talked to Neryarta, Silvertip's grizzly bear spirit companion, which resulted in Silvertip getting a big-ass lecture. And perhaps further irritation. I stressed that Val meant well and if she disliked Silvertip she could have simply ignored her rather than try to fix things, and that Silvertip's own actions are partially to blame for creating the situation in the first place. She seemed to begrudgingly acknowledge those points. And when I asked if she thought Val merited some kind of punishment, she said no. (Good. I don't think Val would have handled that very well. I know I wouldn't. Of course, I didn't go mindwalk a powerful ally without permission, either.)
We talked a bit more about dreamwalking and Silvertip mentioned that she could do something similar. I was tempted to ask her to try it on me, but what if I missed it or couldn't defend against it? That would basically be declaring myself defenseless to mental invasions. I think I'm going to try having Val Dreamwalk me later to see if I can counter that--and how well--before venturing into deeper waters. I don't want to get in over my head. I talked about the instances I'd mindwalked people in the past without their permission: one human woman who'd been traumatized by a bane (so I couldn't exactly ask permission there) and one Black Spiral kinfolk who I basically mindraped to get information out of him. Silvertip... I don't know what he made of that honestly. In hindsight, there have been other times I've mindwalked without permission. Swiping security codes out of a Plastico guard's mind. "Riding" a few former girlfriends to get an idea for what they were feeling while we were being intimate (which I guess, in hindsight, is an invasion of privacy). I guess, now that I think about it, I've invaded people's minds around a dozen or so times without their permission.
I feel kind of dirty. Ugh.
Long story made short, I reported my Porsche, which I'd sold to an illegal chop shop, as being stolen so I could collect the insurance money. It turns out that I made a net profit off that car because I was able to buy it so cheap to begin with. Hurray for knowing how the cops and insurance people work, from the inside, as that made the whole thing pretty easy for me.
In between all the calls and forms, I caught up on some work for Terminus. The stock portfolio I'd put together last week in anticipation of the riots/spiral thing spreading is already up 4.6%. The other week, Mr. Lee said I sounded like a corporate wolf, which is a term used to describe business-savvy Glass Walkers. I like making money for the tribe. And myself. And the mages I contacted with my stock tips the other week.
Sunday, May 4--Studying LOLcat, a productive talk with Silvertip, and feeling dirty
Alternating catnip, treats, cat toys, and mental impulse nudges, I got to spend a good deal of time observing LOLcat moving about. I think I've processed the walk and the run, but the leaps and erratic maneuvers? There's a lot going on there. When the moon is fuller, I may see about spending several days--or a week--as a Cougar. An open window should allow access to and from the cabin, and I'll have to lock LOLcat up in the downstairs bathroom with a supply of food and water and a nice pile of clothes to sleep/puke on.
Huh. I suppose it might be possible to turn into a cougar and just stay in that form forever. That's an interesting concept. Not exactly one I ever intend to explore, but it's an idea that's interesting to contemplate from a theoretical perspective.
That evening, Silvertip came by, howled, and I let her in for a visit. She asked about how the trip went and if I'd managed something in the trade. I claimed I didn't do so well. (I do feel like I got shafted with that stupid book written by a Celestial Chorister.) I didn't mention the ring, as I'm not sure how Silvertip would have reacted to that. I did mention the chimera spirit "familiar", though. I mentioned I wasn't very versed on how these relationships worked and quipped that I felt like a young boy asking someone for advice about getting a girl to like me, and Silvertip nearly busted a gut laughing at that analogy. (Maybe you had to be there?) Silvertip did offer some profound advice: "How you treat it is how it grows." If you use it like a mentor, it becomes a mentor. Use it like a friend, it becomes a friend. Use it like something to barter with and it becomes something to barter with. And in changing it, it can also change you.
Now I'm not saying that what works for the garou works for the warpers, because maybe it's totally different, but what Silvertip said certainly makes sense. I see the chimera spirit as kind of an umbral guide and ally. Maybe a bit of a mentor for things related to the spirit world? I will have to be careful that the spirit does not change me, though... Technically? By even interacting with anything at all, does that not change you to some extent? Perhaps it is a matter of degrees and not losing oneself? I don't think there's a danger of losing myself.
She recommended a book--"Our Way of Making Prayer"--about how the Yup'ik see and interact with spirits. A small part of me wonders if Silvertip is attempting to shape me into a Yup'ik-style shaman.
We talked about Val, how Silvertip had figured out it was her who had trespassed in her mind, and trust. I told Silvertip I trusted Val to do what Val thought was the correct thing to do, and that what is correct in her mind frequently mirrored what I believed the garou perceived to be correct--even though it was not always correct. My mistrust of her, ironically, was the fact that I trusted her to go tell other corax about anything she learned--especially secrets or things that looked like secrets. When she learned about me, she never told the garou, but she did tell the corax--and even warned me that i might get corax visitors passing by who would stop over for a bit. So I trust her to not keep secrets and otherwise to act largely along the same lines as the garou do, save that she is not a keen fighter unless her passions overwhelm her rationality, which does happen from time to time. In short? Don't trust her with any secrets or things you'd rather not have shared.
Silvertip seemed to agree with my assessment of Val, but was still irritated that she dreamwalked her without permission and then went and talked to Neryarta, Silvertip's grizzly bear spirit companion, which resulted in Silvertip getting a big-ass lecture. And perhaps further irritation. I stressed that Val meant well and if she disliked Silvertip she could have simply ignored her rather than try to fix things, and that Silvertip's own actions are partially to blame for creating the situation in the first place. She seemed to begrudgingly acknowledge those points. And when I asked if she thought Val merited some kind of punishment, she said no. (Good. I don't think Val would have handled that very well. I know I wouldn't. Of course, I didn't go mindwalk a powerful ally without permission, either.)
We talked a bit more about dreamwalking and Silvertip mentioned that she could do something similar. I was tempted to ask her to try it on me, but what if I missed it or couldn't defend against it? That would basically be declaring myself defenseless to mental invasions. I think I'm going to try having Val Dreamwalk me later to see if I can counter that--and how well--before venturing into deeper waters. I don't want to get in over my head. I talked about the instances I'd mindwalked people in the past without their permission: one human woman who'd been traumatized by a bane (so I couldn't exactly ask permission there) and one Black Spiral kinfolk who I basically mindraped to get information out of him. Silvertip... I don't know what he made of that honestly. In hindsight, there have been other times I've mindwalked without permission. Swiping security codes out of a Plastico guard's mind. "Riding" a few former girlfriends to get an idea for what they were feeling while we were being intimate (which I guess, in hindsight, is an invasion of privacy). I guess, now that I think about it, I've invaded people's minds around a dozen or so times without their permission.
I feel kind of dirty. Ugh.
