nick_garou | Correspondence studies, plotting DNA's downfall, and chats with Silvertip. (Reply)

Sunday, Jun 8--Riots will hit Saint Claire in 1-3 weeks. Probably.

After I woke from my nap and checked on Ila-Cougar, I set about doing the ritual I'd planned to allow me to detect when the riots were going to happen--or if they would happen at all--in Saint Claire. It took a good five hours of work--lots of area and time to cover--and I get the impression that the riots are going to hit Saint Claire in 1 (less likely) to 3 (more likely) weeks. I texted Salem, Mouse, Riley, Emma, and Val:

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The future is always in motion, but the riots will be here in as soon as one more week (though not very likely that soon) and almost certainly no longer than three more weeks. I foresee great chaos coming near the City Courthouse and the northwestern side of the city--nearest to Seattle. Curiously, Harbor Park seems to be a sea of tranquility in the coming weeks, unaffected by the initial turmoil. The future of the tenement, however, is very precarious. It will either survive or be destroyed, and it seems to have a roughly 50/50 chance of either. Make sure the insurance is paid up.

Any kin or garou living or working in the northwestern part of town might want to relocate or consider taking some vacation time very soon. Anyone staying in the tenement ought to know that doing so is at a high risk to their life and limb in the upcoming weeks.
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Things I left off? Karuvar's manor/palace, despite being in the northwestern part of the city, appears to be insulated against the chaos. I wonder if he has connections with whatever is behind these riots?

If we're going to tackle this DNA thing, it needs to be sooner rather than later.

Sun, June 8--A solution to the DNA problem?

I had an idea regarding shutting DNA's facility down, hurting them financially, setting their work back, and liberating their prisoners. I'd use Matter to break the water main shutoff valve. Forces to burst the plumbing in DNA's facility during the night. Correspondence-Matter to open up a dimensional rift between a deep part of the Columbia River and the bottom floor of DNA's facility. Nothing like a rapidly flooding below-ground facility to get everyone to evacuate--and take their prisoners with them, which can then be picked off from the black vans, on the road, with fewer defenses, as opposed to having to go through a massive security setup and a shitload of armed-to-the-teeth guards.

Problem: How to explain the flooding to the garou so they don't know I'm a mage? Normally I'd go to Mouse with this, but she's in NYC. (Dammit, Mouse.) I thought about it a bit, then I dispatched Kargamis to see out Neryeta to see if Silvertip would come for a talk.

Sun June 8--... leads to a talk with Silvertip.

Kargamis returned a few hours later, barely giving me time to intercept Silvertip before she made it to my property, where I was sheltering Ila-Cougar from prying eyes and harm.

It was a good talk. Silvertip said she could just walk in, invisible, shadowing a scientist to the bottom level lab, and then summon a water elemental to flood the place--no need for me to do anything. I might help. Might not. Either way, I think I'll be playing Guardian Angel for Silvertip whether she knows it or not.

After we got business out of the way, we talked a little. She's utterly swamped with projects and feeling a little overwhelmed, which was why she was very reluctant to take on the DNA-flooding mission. She's also still upset about being female and unable to be with her former mate. I offered to do an examination of her tomorrow night in the umbra, and she agreed to it. She's also a bit pissed off at Val. Val apparently put the screws to her when she learned Silvertip was in dire need of help. Normally I'd go talk to Val, but OMFG, so damn busy I simply do not have time to play mediator to shifter drama.

Curiously, Silvertip asked me if I ever used magic to make money. I told him a variety of ways I had done so in the past--and continue to do so in the present. I wonder what brought that up? Maybe she's interested in taking better care of her tribe's kin?

We adjourned. I went home, curled up in the upstairs bed (in case Ila-cougar wanted the downstairs futon), and read the Celestial Chorister book until I could barely keep my eyes open.

Mon, June 9--Correspondence studies

My dreams were weird. As if they were trying to tell me something. Mr. Abernathy was present, briefly, to chastise my lack of diligence. When I woke, I stayed in bed and carefully re-read a section that was relevant to what I'd dreamed the night before. (I suspect Mr. Abernathy, at times, attempts to push me through my dreams. Now, with a higher awareness of Mind magick, I think I'm better able to recognize it for what it is.)

When the sun set, I was in the umbra at the place where I was supposed to meet Silvertip. Early. VERY early. Which I'd planned. I went to work testing a new theory. With a stick. Instead of opening up two portals in space, to put the stick through, I just willed a portion of it to exist in another point. It took a bit to wrap my head around this new way of envisioning the world, but... Damn, that book has actually proven to be useful. After a little more experimentation, I was confident enough--barely--to experiment with my arm. My left one. Just in case. I was able to reach in front of me with my left arm, and scratch my back with it from behind myself.

Mon, Jun 9--Examining Silvertip's gender-related problem, and discussing a few things.

And that's when Silvertip turned up. She asked if I knew about teleportation, so I made a small rock disappear and drop out of the sky some distance behind us. I think she was impressed, a little.

She was in lupus and referred to me as "Tail-Eater." My filthy mind decided to take that to a filthy place, and I questioned her as to why she used such an unflattering name for me. She countered by saying it was an honorable one, in reference to my having made her 2nd tail disappear some time ago. She later apologized for being in lupus, which she thought was rude even though I could understand her. I told her if she'd gotten closer I'd have likely been even ruder by petting her. She said not to do that.

Werewolf petting is probably not a safe hobby for mages.

We got started on the examination. Silvertip seemed surprised when I didn't use a ritual circle like before. I told her I'd used it before for theatrics and that it wasn't important. I got the impression she'd ascribed a lot more meaning to what was, essentially, some scribbles and equations involving geometry and the Pythagorean theorem and limits as n --> infinity (or infinitely small).

About an hour later, I ended the examination. Nothing seemed to have changed, and nothing seemed to be changing. I told Silvertip that she was likely stuck as a she forever. (I'm not 100% certain and said as much, but that's what it's looking like.) She seemed to take it much better this time around. I think in part because she's had several months to adjust and come to terms with everything. Still, she didn't look very happy.

We talked a little afterwards. Dagny, a Get, seems to have some scar in her mind that's inhabited by an evil spirit, which is literally causing her to lose her mind. Silvertip is working to fix her, if that is even possible. I offered to lend a hand, even if it were to just affect the fates around Silvertip and Dagny during a critical process.

I told Silvertip about the coming riots, how I'd seen a potential future, and that she needed to contact her kin and get them to move if they were in a hot-zone-to-be. She asked me to contact Lynn for her. And Quin. Which I later did. She bemoaned not having enough kin, then asked if I was true kin or not. I told her I was "adopted" by the Walkers, and wasn't a Walker by blood--not kin by blood, either. Silvertip mentioned that her tribe had a history of taking in others: shamans and medicine men, blacks, Koreans, Polynesians, and others the whites looked down upon. I told her that was a noble thing for her tribe to do.

When it was time to leave I offered to fly Silvertip back to save her some time. She could point out some spirits or locations in return (because bartering seems a customary thing with her and I think she realizes I highly value knowledge). She agreed. My magic was fairly strong this time, not like when I flew away after encountering Karuvar. We flew hard and fast--probably around 75 MPH. Not too bad for two people. I bet that could have been substantially faster if it'd been just me.

I dropped her off near her destination, but far enough away that I would not be seen, and flew back home. It was SUBSTANTIALLY faster with just me. So fast I had to close my eyes against the wind and rely on Correspondence alone to navigate.