2023.02.22 Sunhome, the Firepit, and Kebabs

02.22.23 Sunhome, the Firepit, and Kebabs
Trey finds Sunhome, and encounters a friendly eccentric Garou elder and her firey Sorcerer mate. Irsa joins them for a great time talking Umbral travel and local events.
IC Date	02.22.23
Players	Branton, Iris, Irsa, Trey
Location	Sunhome
Spheres	Changeling, Garou, Sorcerer, Kinain, Bastet

2023.02.22 Sunhome, the Firepit, and Kebabs

Sunhome "SUNHOME WELCOMES ALL GAIAN ALIGNED!" This sign is clearly visible in the common area.

This vast community covers a large expanse of land and looks like something out of Fallout or Mad Max, except for the shiny state of the art solar panels that cover every building. The most prominent is the two-story Main House. A second, smaller Guest House sits a few hundred yards away, and is closer to the Main Gate. At the end of a short stone pathway, between the Main and Guest Houses, sits a covered wooden swing amid a garden area (+view swing). Closest to the Main Gate is a long rectangular structure that server as a Community Shelter. Like most of the structures in the area they have been built from recycled, scavenged materials, and designed to withstand the desert climate.

At the center of the cleared area is a large lean-to next to a firepit area. It could easily allow shelter from the sun for most large animals. This area has a large dragon shaped firepit at its center where a beautiful set of chimes seems to always carry, very softly, a musical tone throughout the area radiating a sense of calm and peace (+view firepit / +view chimes).

A stone smithy stands a few hundred yards away on the other side of the firepit, though no smoke comes from it, and an array of mirrors surround it making that area blindingly bright during the day.

The inhabitants appear to be adept at surviving in this part of the desert (see +view people). They've dug out a well out in back of the houses, and planted rows of vegetables. The well is capped with a hand-pump and the vegetables are covered over by an umbrella of cloth tarps to keep the sun from burning the seedlings during the harshest part of the day and keep them from freezing at night. There is also a surprising number of wildlife and lizards once you're away from the homes. Gila Monsters being the majority.

This is a Gaian only room. Please do NOT +meet anyone into this room who cannot pass the locks on their own (see +help +meet implications). This is keyed to Faction = Gaian on +sheet. Also type 'look OOC' for more information.

https://www.cityofhopemush.net/index.php/Sunhome

Contents: Mercy's Messenger Alexander Oritz Ramos Nicknamed the 'Sheriff', and IS armed. He is a large, well muscled man, approximately 6'5 feet, with dark hair and eyes, and sun darkened skin. He looks to be part Native American and part Mexican. As one of the main guards, he checks out those coming in, and /WILL/ stop those who are not known, or who alert as being tainted. He seems a bit grumpy, and wary of new comers, but after getting to know him a bit, he has interesting stories to tell, and advice to give if someone listens.

Known Gifts: Sense Wyrm, Find Water

Trey has hiked his way out here for some reason -- long walk, but hey, sometimes it's worth it just to feel the sun on your face. Not that the sun is up anymore, but it's the principle of the thing. Basking in the light of the moon is an average-height man, following some internal sense to the entrance, where he holds up his hands and submits to scrutiny, offering, "Treads-on-Thin-Ice, born on four paws to the tribe of Riddlers of the Bastet."

Sunhome is as Sunhome does, being all welcoming and community-ish and stuff. Gotta love that hub vibe, you know? The burn-scarred hippy is arrives bare footed mere moments behind Trey, which doesn't suck nearly as much in moonlight as sunlight. Sand gets hot af. There's probably still some lizards around that haven't found their comfy spots yet, and as she approaches the communal Gaian haven, she drops to get into a territorial pushup battle vs one of the scaly little sentries. She manages like four pushups before ending up sprawled on the ground and saying, "You win, you win, I wont write my name on anything." while panting. Lizard remains king! The important stuff taken care of, she looks up from the ground at Trey while starting to get to her feet. "Hey, friend!" Mercy's Messenger greets with a big, ridiculously friendly smile.

Trey smiles back at the warm greeting, and offer Mercy's Messenger a hand up affably. "I'm Trey," he says, "Among the rest of the world, anyway. Treads-on-Thin-Ice among..." and he waves his free hand to take in the Gaian collective. "Us," he concludes finally. "Thanks for the warm welcome."

Mercy takes the hang and hoists herself back up into a proper upright state, and then shakes that hand. Like a lot. Way too much hand shaking is happening and she looks THRILLED. "I've never met you!" she blurts out as though having discovered something amazing, "Hi! Hello! Welcome to somewhere!" There's a little pause, then she remembers this guy has no idea who she is. "Oh, shit, sorry! I'm Iris Tiganites, or Mercy's Messenger if you're feeling real formal. Or Pancake if you're not. Black Fury, Theurge, Homid, Wife of Branton The Fire Guy, Mother of Pink Floyd the Metis, follower of Wandering Death, Captain of the Space Boat, and... Probably some other junk that I'm forgetting. It's SO GOOD to meet you!"

Trey blinks, but in a pleased, not-at-all-weirded-out kind of way. "Not yet, no! But there's a first time for everything!" He tilts his head to the side as he regards her, very catlike. There's a touch of puzzlement. "Pancake? Ah, and you have a mate whose name is known to me from Miguel," he says with a smile. "Both of you were mentioned as people I should know, so this is good fortune, huh!" He grins. "I'm a new cat, not many titles and no offspring or mate yet. Perhaps I'll find a nice lynx and settle into the whole kitten thing. Around here, though, I think it's all bobcats."

"Most people ask 'why Pancake?' and I have to tell them 'that's a puzzle you have to figure out all on your own'." Mercy says with a sagely nod, "But I'll give you a prize if you ever figure it out. Hardly anyone ever does." She nods again though at the mention of bobcats, and adds, "And cougars. Sometimes the cat version, sometimes the sexy older lady version that'll buy all your drinks and take you back to her place. I suppose the cat version might as well, but they don't usually carry money and have no interest in bars, so maybe not. Hey, I'm super hungry, would you eat some things for me and tell me how good they are?" she asks while pointing further into Sunhome and towards the ever present communal cooking.

Trey chuckles at that and says, "I didn't figure I'd ask because it's more fun to speculate, and perhaps, unravel the mystery to find the truth on my own. But you're a Crescent Moon, so you would understand that, I think." Challenge accepted! He doesn't mind playing the long game on figuring out that riddle. "Cougars are a little too big for my cat form, and... well. In homid, that's just wrong. And... while I'm sure the other sort of cougars are perfectly nice people, I had my share of much older women trying to buy me drinks when I was in Florida a year or so ago." He perks up at the mention of food. "I'd love to!," walking alongside her with an easy gait. "I never turn down a meal. Well, almost never."

"If it helps, I already gave you the answer outright." Mercy says with a broad grin that pulls at the deep burn on her cheekbone. "You're so lucky," he says when Trey mentions not turning down a meal, "I have a very complicated relationship with my corporeal body, pretty sure I'm exacerbating mental illness but there's a definite shortage of therapists for people that don't handle the physical plane all that well. I'll eat when I'm back on the boat, probably. Or when Pink guilt trips me into it. One of the two. So! Where ya from, what brings you 'round here, whatcha do in your spare time, and all that other stuff?" she asks while meandering along towards the smell of kabobs and such.

Someone who talks more and at greater length than Trey is a welcome change. He listens to the word barrage, and notes, thoughtfully, "That would be a good profession for one of the Kin who was so inclined, and talented, and stuff. Is it difficult to be outside the Umbra? I haven't spent enough time there to become that adapted. I can't traverse it on my own yet." He inhales, thinking how to summarize the story, taking in the smell of Kebabs. "I learn, as much as I can. Mystical things in particular. I make things, I'm a leatherworker of some skill. And I wander. A lot. Most recently out of Denver."

Branton is already over by the food, in fact he is probably helping prepare it. It involves fire, which is very very on brand and Branton's apparently complete lack of need for hot mits or other personal protection might just be showing off. Mercy's Messenger gets a broad smile and a wave "Make a new friend while I was distracted?"

Mercy sucks in one of those breaths that comes with wide eyes and a huge smile, very :D in nature. "WE'LL GO ON FIELD TRIPS!" she blurts with huge amounts of excitement. "If I start talking about the spirit world, you wont be able to shut me up, and before you know it I'll have literally kidnapped you and made it half impossible to get back home. ...Catnapped? No. Something. You know what I mean." Looking around, she half smiles and half winces, "It's all very nice, but I prefer not to be on the planet. It's... Aggrivating, in at least six different ways. Only five today though, because the moon is smiling, and it's waxing, and that means I'm unlikely to run face first into anything. I haven't tripped over my own feet all day! What's Denver like? I went around it when I passed by, stopped near a local caern in the mountains, but the city just looked too big and complicaated at the time, and I didn't have any money." She BEAMS as she sees Branton and gives him a tight squeeze and a cheek smooch, being entirely not safe around fire. "This is Trey! Treads on Thin Ice, Riddle-Cat extrordinare, snappy dresser, and latest pancake challenger.

Trey says, “Don't threaten me with a good time," Trey counters, pleased with himself for remembering the phrase. He's still learning the Homid stuff, after all. "Catnapped works... but I can just listen, for now." He pauses as she winces, taking in the explanation with a slow nod. "Denver is interesting -- when it gets cold, the air is so sharp and clean that it hurts to breathe it. The mountains are so beautiful. I did a lot of hiking there. The city -- well, I spent a lot more time outside the city proper. My friend there lived about an hour outside the city."

He smiles as they approach Branton, and offers the fire-fearless man a wary hand, hoping he doesn't get seared. "Pleased to meet you...""

Branton grins broadly at Trey and sets the new guy up with some skewered roasted meats "Branton Kholer, this lady's Mate. Sorcerer kin of the black furies among other things. Been in town long?"

While the dudes make their acquaintances, Mercy pushes her dreadlocks back over her shoulders and out of the way so she can lean in and smell cooking things. She doesn't get any, she just wants to savor with her nose and smile a lot while she does. She tells Trey, "I agree entirely about the air. Not a huge fan of being cold, but winter mountain air is the best kind. Until you spring a nose bleed, then it can just go straight to hell." She turns attention to Branton to ask, "Is Pink Floyd running around here or is he back at the caern?"

Trey finds himself a seat and accepts the skewer happily. "Thank you. Only been here about two weeks, which is just long enough to have managed to meet some great folks, both your kind and mine, and be introduced at the local caern." He adds, with amusement, "Miguel mentioned you and I share that in common, that sorcery. I'm an Enchanter, finally having the chance to work on the skill more. We cats like our magic, at least a lot of us do." He turns back to Mercy as he takes a bite, listening, and then answers, "I grew up near Canada, so the cold doesn't really bother me much. I don't really get nose bleeds." He takes another bite and notes, "Mmph, this'sgoodf."

Branton grins broadly at his mate's enthusiastic sniffing, some of the things being cooked have been seasoned and combined in ways he's noted she enjoys smelling even though she doesn't eat much. Trey gets a nod "I'm an enchanter and alchemist. And I have a library with stuff on a wide assortment of other kinds of sorcery if you have questions we can probably get it sorted out. Plus if you want to study the magics of other peoples to learn how to mimic their abilities with Enchantments I can sort that out as well. I like teaching and sharing magic, It’s kind of my thing."

"I'm originally from near Greece, excellent weather," Mercy says, "But ended up spending some years in Maine. I have a fetish tattoo on my back, and there's a taboo upon it about not being bound up, which unfortunately means no sweaters or anything. Shawls are excellent, but like we went to Antarctica once, and the shawl was no bueno." Nodding enthusiastically with agreement Mercy adds, "Sharing magic is sthe best. If you ever get stumped somewhere or wanna learn or try something, we can probably help. Probably more him than me, but still. I'm more a... tour guide."

"That's very generous," Trey notes, "And I've been curious about mimicking other abilities, yeah -- particularly wanted to research a means to step sideways. We need a Gift to do it, and I'd need a much higher rank to get it. Plus, if I manage to be clever enough to work out how to work around the limits, I win respect among the Bastet. Any time you want to share or teach, I can make time to listen and learn." Trey mms thoughfully at the idea of Greece. "I've heard it's beautiful. I haven't been outside this country, because the idea of being on a plane or a boat for long periods of time.... no bueno. Antarctica? *Wow*, you've really traveled. A tour guide... you make it sound so appealing."

Branton shivers at the mention of Antarctica "Made me glad that I make my own heat, that's for sure." Then he points at his mate "If it involves shifter magic, spirit lore, realm lore, and rituals, she's got you covered. Sorcery and the lore of terrestrial supernatural peeps I...have probably got you covered. In fact if you can bring me a type of lore I don't have I'd be willing to pay a bounty, probably in some sort of custom enchanted item." Then he tilts his head and considers for a moment and laughs out loud "Well I have sorcery that lets me, you might be able to learn it if you can grok shamanic numina. Or we could work out an item...probably a blade to cut a temporary hole in the gauntlet? Or something." a hand gets waved "Research would be required but the question sounds fascinating."

"Yeah but how could I not when there's so many *super* weird and awesome places to go see just on this one planet?" Mercy says, getting all excited about the tour guiding biz, "There's a place where one of the strongest air elementals on the planet just plays around, another spot where all the lightning spirits get together for mass parties, there's rare glacier spirits in the south that are older than frickin time, very sleepy, but will detonate and kill all of the things if you startle it, and all kinds of else."

Trey says, “Oh, there are Rites I want to learn as well; in time, I hope to be able to make fetish-enchants into the same items. I don't figure it'll be easy, but it's something I've been playing with in my head for months now. And there's always so much more to learn about the Spirit world. While I already have a bond with a totem spirit myself, I'd like to be able to talk with others more freely as well." He hrms and looks thoughtful. "If there was another type of magic I could learn, I'd share. I've been trying to mimic the work of a magician, but I can't figure out how he used the bone flute to draw down the moonlight." A pause.

"My own work is largely shamanic in nature. Eclectic, though, since I've picked up bits and pieces here and there, as I've traveled and seen things. You know, I was asked yesterday where I would go if I could go anywhere. I said Australia, because it's a place where there is so much life in the middle of what seems like death, and it's unforgiving, but it's a place with so much spiritual strength as well. She seemed sad at the thought." He offers a rueful smile. "Not sure why..." And then he listens, eyes lit with wonderment as he nibbles and pays attention to Mercy's reports of the things she's seen. "I don't know if I would ever stop, if I could travel so readily."

Irsa has arrived.

Branton has stepped away from the grill and is chatting with Trey and his mate. Branton tilts his head and sort of stares off into the distance for a moment "Yeah. There's almost certainly a way we can make that work, maybe have your patron spirit and my patron spirit come to an arrangement before we mortals fuck things up yeah? I am pretty sure Herself is gonna like you, any Gaian with an interest in sorcery gets bonus points in her book."

"You're gonna love our boat." Mercy says to the cat with a cheeky grin. "Traveling is the best." There's a lot of the-best's for her. "I have several trips planned, if you ever get bored and have the time to get into some trouble."

Trey nods at that, agreeing, "My totem is about hope, so she tends to approve of anything that helps bring renewal and hope to people. Our people especially, those who fight for Gaia." He returns the grin and gnaws the last of the meat off the skewer with gusto. "Oh, trust me, there is little that would keep me away from a chance to see more."

There's a short, muttered discussion at the edge of the compound. Alexander is speaking to Irsa, who looks more than a bit confused as to how exactly she got here. There's a lot of arms being waved about by the Bone Gnawer along with a ring of some seriously-old looking keys. "I dunno.. look, spirits in fetishes do what they do. They said t' come here, I came here."

Branton chuckles at Mercy and nods in agreement as he adds to Trey "Its a composite fetish that at this point I think only exists in the umbra? And most of the crew are contracted spirits. And we can get you through to it between us at any point, though I'd understand wanting to wait until you can handle your own gauntlet crossings." Then he spots Irsa and waves her over.

Trey ohs in surprise at the nature of the ship, and if he could possibly look more intensely interested, he does. "I would -- if anything goes wrong, I don't want someone to have to worry about dragging me across too. I would pull my own weight, y'know?" He looks up at the sight of the huge woman at the entrance and smiles, recognizing her. "Irsa!" He waves to her from where he sits near the fire with Mercy and Branton. He's found his way here, too, resourceful kitty that he is.

"Only in the umbra." Mercy agrees with a nod to Branton, "Otherwise it'd be noticable, and cold, and I couldn't mess with the astronauts." She looks off to where Branton is waving, and helps. 'Helps'. She stands up to wave, first one arm, then both, then, "IRRRRRSAAAAAAAAA!" It's still 10 till 9, little baby people are probably at home by now, though probably she does still annoying startle a few people. Sorry, few people. She cant help these things.

Alexander looks over at Branton's waving, and lets Irsa pass without comment. He's sniffed her over, she's clean, no reason to waste time trying to understand bizarre shaman rantings. "Yo, Branton! How is?" Irsa calls as she heads over. She nearly jumps out of her skin when Mercy yells her name. "Yes! It's me. Back from L.A., and I ain't dead or nothin'. I call that a win." Irsa also offers Trey a high-five. Because of course she does.

Branton grins broadly at Irsa "Made a new friend to nerd with and managed to avoid having to argue with my kid about the virtues of complying with social expectations visa vis Wearing pants when he wants to go out amongst humans. So, a really good day."

Trey raises his hand to accept the high-five, bracing for impact. Nah, she knows he's all delicate and shit, comparatively. He chuckles at the summary and notes, "Pants are overrated in four of five forms," brightly amused. It's good to be around people who want to be around one another! He adds to Branton's comments, "I think you're gonna outgeek me for a while on that front."

"Hooray!" Mercy cheers for Irsa's maintaining of her not-dead status, and sits her ass down again. "Hey, what rank are you? Are you Adren yet?" she asks the Gnawer lady. "Yesssss!" she adds, and offers a high five to Branton. Any day you don't have to argue about pants is a good day. "I dunno, I think you'll find a good geek stride as the one doing all the question asking and pestering. Equageeking, surely."

Irsa grunts as she sets down her pack. "Tell him all the cool metis Galliards are wearin' pants these days. Ran inta a tale-moon back at th' old sept who had this seriously bad-ass cotton set, all tied-dyed with all these pictures of stories. He was th' most popular dude at the 'Gnawer moot." She parks her ass on the ground and looks up at Mercy. "Yeah, just made it a few weeks ago. That's a long story there. But yeah, I'm Adren. It's wild."

Branton nods sagely at his mate "Its not a zero sum game or even really a competition." Then to Trey he grins "That was Pink's argument. Considering he's only started wearing clothes since his first change he's still not convinced they're a good idea most days." then to Irsa "Congratulations! Always nice to hear a friend is doing well."

"You're probably right on that front," Trey tells Mercy, "I ask a *lot* of questions when people don't scream at me to shut up." He grins with that, and listens as Irsa shares her news, nodding, understanding to some degree. "Oh, definitely." He's happy to let them chatter a bit without too much interjection atr this point; he's content to be companionable and listen.

"Oh good!" Mercy beams at Irsa, "At some point when you've got a minute, I need you to go set out a lovely lunchon in the forest, summon a Bear spirit, have a snack with it, and learn the gift of Adaptation. It's not really in the wheel house of your tribe, so you might need to be a little extra with your presentation, but you'll manage just fine. You're good at this!" She rolls her eyes at her kid's clothing ideas, and says, "No one mention nudist colonies or he'll know we're lying when we say everyone has to."

"Adaptation? Aw, man. I just picked one up from the Steel Angel while I was away. Might take me a bit t' built up the energy for another one." The spirit Irsa has named is the City Mother of her old hometown. "I'm gonna need this for weird Umbral realms, huh?"

Branton nods at Irsa "Being able to breathe is important generally. And not getting your lungs filled with poisonous spores that want to turn you into a puppet of the central fungal spire. And...well you get the point."

"Oh no problem, no rush." Mercy says while she turns to dig around in her ever present Big Purse for her shawl to wear vs the night chill. She nods her agreement with Branton and adds, "And you don't want to suffocate while your blood boils in the vaccume of space. Or burn to death. I need to get my march to Helios going as well, and you're welcome to come along if you like. It's dangerous, obviously, cause it's the frickin sun, but you're officially badass enough to get the invite."

"Breathing is definitely on my to-do list, for sure," Irsa agrees. "So Bear teaches that one? I'm gonna have t' put a nice menu and speech together for him." She flashes a shy grin at Mercy's remark. "Well, I hope so. The training wheels are comin' off now."

Branton grins broadly at Irsa "The caern having bear as its totem is gotta be worth some insight yeah? And the Sun is the trip I'm looking forward to the most. Because...fire?"

Mercy nods her confirmation about Bear and says, "There's a fair amount of Black Bear spirits around here, so you shouldn't have trouble summoning at all." There's a grin for Branton, "You'll really dig this one, it's like one of those luxury cruises that go down to Puerta Vallarta. There's a couple stops along the way: Mercury, and also this chunk of rock orbiting Mercury is a Wyrm claimed college of wizard magic, and then Vulcan as well, and then lastly the sun, which we have to kinda sorta on foot at a certain point because I don't want my ship wrecked by frickin sun-fire incarna."

Irsa cracks her knuckles thoughtfully. "Berries," she finally decides. "Good ones are hard t' come by right now, and I got a whole bush of the damn things outside my place. That and some honeycomb. I'll have to track down a wild hive and raid it." That'll be an exciting task in the Umbra! "I got Master of Fire, first Gift I learned when I moved here," she offers. "That'll help with th' burning during the cruise, I hope."

Branton grins and shakes his head at Irsa "It won't hurt but it makes you feel like you're getting hit by a bat instead of stabbed. And with the level of fire the legends say to expect...sure it'd be blunt force trauma but you'd be getting hit by a train rather than a fist."

Mercy again nods her agreement, "Master of fire is good, but it wont be enough. Adaptation is guranteed survival in the harshest of conditions, which the sun has, but there's pretty mostly always a grand test before one can get to the celestine themselves. This one's going to be solar flares. We don't have to *fight* them, just survive them. Master of Fire will very much help with *that*, for sure."

"Now ya got me picturin' Helios as a train conductor. He'll say shit like 'Tickets please!' and burn ya to a crisp if you ain't one." Irsa inspects her crooked fingers with a frown. "Yeah, I figured it wouldn't be total cover. Just better than nothing." She looks up at the Black Furies. "How long 'til you wanna head out on this trip?" she asks.

Branton nods at Irsa "I'm going to pack a fair number of potions of fire resistance, I've had a look at how they'd interact with Master of Fire and I'm pretty sure that even though there's some redundancy there's enough extra in the potions that'll make it worth it."

"Voiced by Tom Hanks, probably." Mercy says, bring the Polar Express into this hot topic. "Good thinking, my dear." she tells Branton for his boyscout of the universe preparedness. "As soon as possible, of course, but honestly I can be patient and do proper sane things like check my pathing and cloaking and be sure everything's properly charged and happy and stuff like that."

Irsa nods. "I'll get on it as soon as I can. We're putting th' last few touches on the pack house. I'm working on a fetish to help with our defenses. Gotta meet with Rhapsody, see how her own project is coming along." She lets out a low huff. "Man, ya just get busier an' busier when you rank up. How do ya even find time to sleep?" she asks the pair.

Branton chuckles at Irsa and grins "I'm pretty sure I've got a potion formula for that somewhere. Alchemically enhanced energy drinks or some such."

"What's 'sleep'?" Mercy asks with good natured sarcasm. "Ooooh, 'momma's meditation time', I think that's what sleep is. See, now you know why I don't spend a lot of time on-planet! No one bugs me in space! Except family. And crew. But that's way less stuff to deal with, probably."

Irsa snickers. "I've been runnin' my ass off since dawn. That'll teach me to sleep at th' Mall." It won't be a thing for her much longer, but hey! She's mentioned in the past that she'll be keeping the space for crashing with the Tribe a couple of nights a week, and to use as private ritual space. "So, how've you two been? Missed ya both something fierce while I was away."

Branton chuckles at Irsa "Keeping busy. Speaking of which, I should go check on Pink. Be seeing you around."

"Pretty good," Mercy answers with a shrug and a nod, "No explosions or anything that I'm aware of. Being allergic to responsibility has its perks. I've mostly been screwing around with the fam at Branton's, or chattin' up birds and such in the clouds and filling in the 'places to visit' bucket list. The usual." She smooshes Branton with love and says, "I'll be around in a bit!"

Night, Branton. Tell Pink I'd like t' come visit, will ya?" Irsa looks hella jealous at Mercy's words. "That sounds awesome. It's been a busy couple a' months for me, no lie. I had that business with my Kin, and then that -other- business in L.A. Miguel says 'Heya' by th' way." She means her former alpha, who Mercy still hasn't met.

"Yeah, but you do it because you want to," Mercy says with a sage nod and a grin, "I mean, you're miss complainy pants, but you love what you do. And that's good. As long as you remember to do for yourself sometimes as well, lest you go all batshit weird and forget what it's like to not stress out all the time."

Irsa flashes a grin. "Truth, right there. If you ain't keepin' busy, then you get careless, and that ain't the way to survive out there." Rat's children take the lessons of their totem seriously. "Speaking of busy: you up for a pizza party in a week or so at the pack house? I dunno if you're into that, or if Pink's even had pizza. Small thing to show off th' place."

Mercy opens her mouth, then closes it, furrowing her brows and looking very thoughtful yet surprised, "I'm not sure he's ever had pizza before. I could be wrong, but I don't think he has. But yes, we'd love to come! Should we bring anything or do anything in particular? Aside from meditating on the fact that I WILL eat pizza. I will."

Irsa's grin widens. "Oh, hell yeah. There any kinda food he hates? I'll make sure it stays off the toppings list." She considers the question, tilting back her head as she thinks. "Anything you wanna bring is fine. It'll be small, just th' pack and your family an' maybe a few others."

"Not really, though I prefer he eat spaghetti only under strict observation. He's messy and somehow gets noodles up his nose." Mercy answers with a laugh. "I'll ummmmmm.... I'll crack open a cook book, see if I can throw anything together. I mean I can think of all kinds of stuff, but I have no idea how to cook it. Oh, hey, you were talking about honey comb earlier. There's hoves at the caern if you want a slightly safer experience and some harvesting help."

Irsa snickers. "I mostly heat things up, so I hear ya there. It'll get eaten, trust me." She begins pulling those old antique keys off their overzied ring and tucks them away into a glph-marked pouch. "I'd like that. Never had to talk to bees before. I wasn't lookin' forward to the stings."

"Pro-tip, dance off." Mercy says with a sagely nod, "Good for communication, but more so they just fucking *groove*, Irsa. You know they basically invented house techno, right?"

Irsa shoots Mercy a suspicious look. "You're pullin' my leg. How d'ya figure that? I don't remember seeing beat pads for bees on TV."

"Ahem." Mercy says while standing up and moving a couple feet away from the table. Clearing her throat, she busts out into perfect mimicry of something from the Matrix soundtrack while busting an energetic club dance that involves a lot of butt shaking and foot work, both the sound and movements being repeticious yet super catchy. She changes to some other popular-at-the-beginning-of-the-techno-craze song and a different dance, and it's basically the same thing, just sorta different. The music always has a buzzing quality in its pitch, and sure, maybe some more weaver allied bees made techno music.

Irsa stares for a full ten seconds before she explodes into whoops of laughter. It's a genius performance from her mentor -- nature is weird and wild and totally unexplainable at times, but hey! Even city wolves can understand this. "What -- what're you saying?" she says, when she recovers enough to speak again.

"I'm not SUPER sure," Mercy admits, "But I'm pretty sure it was akin to 'good morning' and 'flowers west'. Hopefully. It's easier to speak Bee when you're actually talking to a Bee."

Irsa scrubs her hands over her face, forcing back a snicker. It's another day of weirdness in the life of a mystic. "Beats th' mating dance-vibe you get from a lotta raves. I'd rather shake my ass for flower directions than bad drinks from awful dudes."

"Oontz oontz oontz oo oo oontz oontz oontz," Mercy makes up her own techno music without mystical help, while also grooving ass first towards Irsa to the beat of her self made techno. She would be the worst lap dancer in the WORLD. Or worst mating dancer. Whichever. "At least as far as I know we don't have any animals whose common greeting consists of, like, punching you in the face, right? Wait, no. Jersey Shore types, maybe..."

Irsa nearly chokes, she's trying that hard not to laugh. "Shit, every party in Compton. Somebody always shoots off their mouth and catches hands." She wipes her eyes and lets out a snort of laughter.

"Point." Mercy admits, and thunks down on a seat. "So how're YOU doin? Aside from travel-y and busy and stuff. How's the pack and the off time and the art and stuff doin'?"

Irsa nods over to Trey, who seems to have spaced out or maybe even fallen asleep. "Ran into him while I was startin' up a mural," she replies. "Was putting it up across th' street from the Olympian when he came up to ask me about the tagging there. Offered to help, if I could explain them." She rolls her shoulders in a shrug. "Good sense there, if ya ask me. If you're in a strange place, best to know all the big dogs on the block. Anyway, Mirror-Shadow turned up and was talking about the cubs at the sanctuary -- Veil-safe, on account of it being public and all. Trey showed interest and Miguel got a bit suspicious, and boom! New Bastet identified."

"Nice!" Mercy exclaims with a sunny smile. "I like him, he seems like a good egg so far. I mean there's still time for me to be wrong about that, but at the very least he's paid attention, which is more than I can say for some of the Cliaths that have come through here." Eye roll. "And he likes to travel, so automatic winner in my book."

Irsa nods in agreement. "Yeah, I figured you'd like him. What with the travelling, and th' Umbra and the Realms, and all the spirit stuff, plus the archery? You just can't go wrong there. Shoulda seen his face when Mirror-Shadow mentioned fire arrows. He looked like a kid at Christmas."

Mercy laughs and nods with agreement, "Yeah, I go a little crazy over coolass arrows as well. I made a BUNCH of awesome ones for a friend of mine once. I should make some for me, sometime. Had one where you shoot it up into the sky and the clouds start bumbing down lightning, ones that stop the enemy from regenerating, stuff like that. Those ones were neat lookin, they had a little crescant moon for an arrow head, points out. Like snake's fangs."

"As for the pack? It's mostly been mind-talk. We've all been rippin' out walls and making repairs and getting stuff ready for the move-in. It's comin' up hard and fast. Jackie's been dragging tools over in bulk, it's wild. You should see th' garage." Irsa fishes some jerky out of her pack and gnaws on it as she fills her mentor in. "Rhapsody's been busy with the green areas. Pandora? Her kitchen is dope as hell. She'll be able to bake in there in bulk, no problem." She perks up as Mercy describes those arrows. "Were they hard to make?"

"Not in the slightest." Mercy says while at the same time offering a high five for the pack house's progress. "All you need is an understanding of what the other tribes and shifter races can do. Once you know the trick is possible, you can work out the spirit pretty easy peasy, and then your imagination will tell you the appropriate form of the vessel, and viola. Badass crossbow bolts or whatever. Like the anti-regeneration one comes from my own tribe. We had some people in Baharat - India - way back in the day. Any how, it's a gift we can learn as Fosterns, called Kali's Tongue. It doesn't last long, but it stops their regeneration AND their ability to heal, and if they die while under the effects of that gift, they're down for good. The berserker rage healing of a near death experience just cant happen."

Irsa slaps her hand up for that high-five. Never, ever leave a sister hanging. "That's seriously nasty. Damn useful in anyone's hands, but for Jackie? That can save her ass, if anything happens to her meatshield. Once we're done celebrating, I'm dragging her over to see your guy. We gotta get that car working, I know it's drivin' them both nuts." Unintentional pun, right there.

Somewhere in the world, a drummer felt the inexplicable urge to do a rim-shot right then and there. "Yeah, putting together a magical vehicle can be a real pain in the ass. They'll get it sorted though, I'm sure of it, and when they do everyone will be super happy with the whole thing."

Irsa scratches her jaw. "It's tempting just t' Awaken the damn thing. But that's just askin' for trouble, since I wasn't part of th' build and ain't got the first clue what kinda tech and sorcery is at work in that thing. I mean, it won't hit MY renown none, I'm a filthy urrah, but I'd be a shitty 'Gnawer if I turned loose some killer car or some other weird shit. Drone cars? Oh, hell no."

"Don't need no weird Christine action happening, for sure." Mercy agrees with a sagacious nod. "If I was going to awaken a vehicle, I'd awaken a Vespa. Like I feel like it'd have a very chill attitude, just wanna go on leisurely rides and smoke cigarettes and stuff."

Irsa grins. "What, no love for the VW bus? Those things are fuckin' lit. Shaggy and Scooby had it made, I tell ya."

"Oh for sure, for sure." Iris says with a nod, "Get a bead curtain, some squashy beans and a good bong, that buddy'd be very chill to drive in. But I also feel like 90% of the time you'd end up in the forest, whereas the Vespa just wants to cruise down windy country roads at an easy 15 miles an hour. At least, that's what I expect.