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I spent the day doing short runs (adding in some drastic direction changes), resting, and working on tree climbing. The latter seems important in that, while a cougar can outrun a wolf pack over short distances but not longer ones, they often end up climbing trees to get a breather.
That evening, when I was up resting in a tree, Emma turned up in her wolf form--sniffing about and checking up on me. Aw, how sweet. We talked a bit. A theurge told her to undergo some purification ritual, so she's going to be scarce until the crescent moon. That sucks, but I suppose this sort of thing comes with the territory--and it's sure to be a two-way street at some point. It sounded like the purification ritual was less about effort (like Emma seemed to think of it as) and more about patience (which I suspect Emma will find to be challenging. She departed, telling me to stay out of trouble.
I should have listened.
I crossed over to the umbra (confirming that I can still use my other talisman while in cougar form), transferred half my quintessence to Kargamis, my chimera spirit (feeding it), and then I worked on crafting an illusion--Forces and Spirit--to mask myself as a cougar spirit. I got feedback from the spirit about how passable the illusion was and made appropriate adjustments based on its feedback. This is very doable, but the subtleties that sell it are.... You know? It's kind of like passing myself off as a cougar. To someone who doesn't know much about cougars, I can pass myself off as one. But to someone who knows about cougars, the subtle mannerisms and body language--little tells that I'm not just a cougar--break the illusion. Val says that homid-born garou have the same problem. They take their wolf form and their mannerisms are off. To someone who isn't very familiar with wolves, the things--like nodding wolves--will go unnoticed, but it tips off those in the know that, hey, homid-born.
Oh! Perfect example. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the first "Total Recall" where he tries and very nearly succeeds to get through a checkpoint using a body morph thing that made him into a frumpy woman. He'd have gotten through if the security guy hadn't paid more attention.
After about half a dozen revisions, I finally asked the chimera spirit to take me to a local cougar spirit so that I could observe it directly rather than attempt to emulate a subject without seeing it. We set off to the west through the woods, sticking north of the black ribbon of highway, and then I noticed I was being stalked. By a tiger. By Karuvar, the khan who recently returned to the area. I made myself look as non-threatening as possible. We talked. I attempted to pass myself off as being a Pumonca of the first rank (to hopefully explain away my terrible cougarish mannerisms--and homid-born!). I think it might have worked? He was trying to recruit me to assist him in his political efforts, which seem to be largely watching the wolves and gathering friendly spirits for his den realm in the city--a place called "Copper Sands"--which I've been invited to come to. He even talk of aiding "our kind", as if I were one of the cat shifters. He asked my name and, thinking quickly, I came up with "Brings-the-Pack." It's a name with a story built in, even if I have no idea what the story is.
The whole time we talked, I could not but help feel like I was still being stalked by Karuvar, even though we were conversing and I could clearly see him. When he left, he just disappeared into the woods. I wasn't keen on going back into the woods. Or having him follow me back to my cabin. I waited a bit after he left, gathering up Forces, and then leapt into the air. The effect nearly failed--I must have been more shaken than I thought--but I was able to fly away. I went north, not towards my cabin at all, keeping low above the tree tops in case the fragile spell I'd woven failed me. It did not. Fortunately. I have little doubt that the tiger saw me fly away, but surely I could attribute that to a fetish or a spirit's gift, should we ever meet again.
I cannot believe I am actually contemplating meeting Karuvar again and, perhaps, continuing this ruse of being a Pumonca.
Oh, shit. I walked from the umbra linked to my cabin to the place where I met Karuvar. He could theoretically track my scent back to my home. Hell. Well, there's nothing to do about that now. If he did he did and what's done is done.
I spent the rest of the night working with Kargamis to better my "I'm a spirit" illusion. We never did manage to locate a cougar spirit I could use as a model, but I wasn't in the mood for exploring further. As dawn approached, I returned to the realm in the woods about a mile north of my cabin, climbed a tree, found two branches that made sleeping up there easier/safer, and dozed off. I'm concerned there might be a tiger loitering at my cabin. Lurking. Watching.
Shit.
