nick_garou | BURNING WTF? (Reply)

I was up late last night reviewing the Chorister's grimoire and finally dozed off--mind racing--shortly after dawn. I woke up at 2pm to the word "BURNING" written on the wall. WTF? I quickly scanned the house for an intruder, but there was none. Then outside. None. Ooookay. So maybe I did it in my sleep? I looked back with some Time. Nope. Wasn't me. (Shit.) But extending my senses back in time, I could feel a stark chill right before the writing happened. (Ghost?) No writing implement at all. (Yikes.) And it's not actually burned into the wall, it's just charcoal on the wall. I could briefly sense magic, but.... ephemeral and intangible.

Theories:

Ghost? Could be something tied in to that black fluid I brought back the other day from Silvertip. And there was the cold. And she'd mentioned a similar substance was found at a haunted house in town. Is this a haunting liquid?
Paradox? I've been pretty careful about not doing anything vulgar in the realm. The last vulgar magick I worked was several weeks ago, teleporting that below-ground pebble out of the Red Talons' territory. This BURNING doesn't feel related at all.
Karuvar? Mouse mentioned he threw up a wall of fire and William Blake's Tyger! Tyger! mentions "burning bright"... But this doesn't feel like something Karuvar might do. I suspect he'd be more "break down the door" or "wake up to find him seated casually in a nearby chair." Probably the latter.
Mouse? Sending a message somehow? But what sort of message is "BURNING"? Unlikely.
Mr. Abernathy? I've never seen an Avatar cross over or materialize before. Improbable at best.
BSDs? Surely not. They're definitely the "break down the door" type.
Nephandi? I doubt it. They'd have done something far, far, far worse than this. And I keep my head down fairly well.
Kargamis? He can't even materialize, and this isn't like him at all.

I'm leaning towards a ghost and/or spectral entity (even though I didn't actually see a spirit when I looked back in time), likely affiliated with that black liquid. Hmm. I've texted Val, Salem, Riley, and Emma about it--with a note for Emma to stay clear of the cabin and a request for Riley to get in touch so we can see if she can track the perpetrator. I left the writing on the wall, untouched, so she'll have an uncorrupted scent/evidence.

Firing up the Winnebago. Time to spend the night in the WWNP campground, leaving the black fluid in the cabin, to eliminate variables tonight. (Don't feel safe about going to Emma's mom's place. If it's an effect focused on or about me, I don't want to do anything that might inadvertently threaten or harm Emma's family.) Winnebago needed to be turned over and run anyway. Batteries were running low.