2023.04.19 Ain't No Party Like a Totem Party
| 04.19.23 Ain’t No Party Like a Totem Party | |
|---|---|
| Iris starts Mini Mayhem in Moonkitten form; Irsa, Iris, and Trey talk about his first fetish in the works, and then Branton has a plan to share. | |
| IC Date | 04.19.23 |
| Players | Branton, Irsa, Iris, Trey |
| Location | Sept of the Enduring Spirit |
| Spheres | Garou, Bastet, Ratkin |
Ritual Clearing - Deep Forest
Twisting through a maze of massive trees and boulders, the long stone pathway from the meadow passes dozens of shrines dedicated to different spirits and totems . Nestled between shrubs and huge roots, or set upon large stones marked with the likeness of animals and elements, altars are covered with offerings and dotted with candles and incense. Set well away from the activity of Sept life, a large clearing has been given over to the trappings and performance of ritual work. Around its edge, baskets dangling from tree limbs contain most common ritual supplies, with larger items found in neat bundles at their bases. The ritual space itself is a wide patch of grassy earth, like an unobstructed blank canvas awaiting the actions and Chiminage necessary to appease the spirits. There are no writings or glyphs alerting visitors to danger here. Instead, the area itself speaks to the hazards of complex rituals and angry spirits, the healed scars of explosions and gouges creating an uneven terrain and leaving permanent marks in stones and trees.
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Trey sits on the ground on a beach towel, the better to keep the pants clean, and is scratching some symbols into the ground, then redoing them. He looks pretty focused, and Iris would recognize them as the summoning sigils for Night spirits. A trial run, then, though it seems like a weird time of day to be doing it, unless he's just prepping?
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<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======--->
Mercy's Messenger rolls Dexterity + Stealth vs 6 for 3 successes.
1 2 3 3 4 4 5 +8 +8 +9 9
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Look, when Iris showed up she intended - FULLY INTENDED - to just quietly arch around and say hi or like otherwise just make herself known, with respect to the process of magic and the preparation that comes with it. Seriously, that was fully on her mind. But then she saw Trey's back. Not that there's anything overly special about it, it's just that it was turned towards her, and that's when all her intentions burst into flames, their ashes scattered on the wind. As soon as she sees someone available for a proper bit of fun on this dark, Ragabash moon, Iris loses her fucking *mind*. She quietly sinks down towards lupus, and then lower, smaller, her black fur turning snow white as she assumes the form of a teeny, tiny, adorable little fluffy house cat. Stalking her prank prey, she slides soundlessly through the under brush, getting into just the right position to POUNCE! Ooooooh this is gonna be so much FUN!
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Oblivious for the moment, Trey scratches it out and mutters, "Meros between five and six for darkness and secrets. Luna ascendant between eleven and midnight. Night sigils flanking each?" he frowns and tries it, studying it with a critical eye. "Do I need Thunder's sigil too? I mean, they're His spirits, but..." A soft sigh. "Maybe I'm overthinking this."
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run run runrunrunRUNRUNRUN POOOOOUNCE! The white kitty flies through the air, sparkling like a fuckin anime character in slow motion, and she lets out a warcry, "YOOOOOOOOWL!" right before she velcros herself tiny claws first onto Trey's person, intent on catching his clothing. The better for her to climb and do bitey murder upon the man's hair. DIE, YOU GLORIOUS RAVEN LOCKS! Take THAT, you gleaming tresses of night! RAR! RARGNASHGROWLCHOMPCHOMPCHOMP!
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Trey murmurs, "No, it needs--" And then, he is BEPOUNCED! He lets out a sound much like a yowl and grabs for the kitten in his hair, yelping and making a whole lot of distracted-cat-person noises, more caught up in the surprise than actually harmed. Then... he realizes this is WAR! So he reaches both hands for his water bottle, taking the ruination of tiny claws as his penance for stopping, and uncaps it... then upends it over his head. Both kitten and Cat are now wet. WHAT NOW, MOONKITTY?! He then carefully tried to disentangle the kitten from his hair -- given that she's now a wet snarly mooncat, this may have been a bad idea. Nonetheless, there's a couple of Uktena over to one side who were putting together a summoning circle -- and they start laughing at the antics of kitten-roo and man-cat. He lifts wet snarly kitten before him and says, "How much of it did you *eat*?!"
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Oh no, my one weakness! TAP WATER! The moon cat wails like a tiny wounded warrior and drops from Trey's back and hair, though it takes a little bit of help and a shake out on Trey's part, wet hair just seems to want to hold on to everything! With all her poof gone, all she can do is shake herself furiously to try and get the water flung out, her fur ending up a spikey mess like she thinks she's Kitty Idol (instead of Billy Idol). There's a brief pause where she needs to lick a paw and work on an ear, got a water drop in there... Okay handled! Ear handled. she poofs up and arches her back and does a feline war dance. The effect wouldn't be profound anyways because you cant take a puffy white house cat seriously in matters of combat, but it's completely ruined now that she's wet. That's probably why picking her up is so easy, her ferocity just isn't effective. So instead she unleashes her second greatest weapon, the most pathetic and whiny little meeeeeeeew! she can manage. "Hiiiiiii!" is how that translates, a terrible attempt to sound totally innocent.
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Trey grins at her and says, "You're just about pocket sized, you know. Of course, if you shift back, that might ruin the pants, and that wouldn't do, not at all." Instead of dangling her, he scoops damp kitty into one palm and scritches her back to help get some of the water off. "You know, it's weird, you don't even *feel* Ragey in this form. At all! Is that part of the Gift? Or am I just missing it?" He plops her down into the middle of the now-ruined circle he was drawing. "I was planning to try the first fetish tomorrow, just trying to get the summoning circle right." And he keeps scritching, because small kitty.
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Iris vanishes her tiny murder beans under herself, now that Trey is carrying her arround and dispensing pettin's. As a proper minion should!! Er, I mean. Packmate. Yeah. "I have no idea!" she admits while purring. She hops down and, while chirping up a storm in Feline, wanders towards the Uktena to 'say hello'. It's awkward, they're obviously not used to house cats, but she wants to loooooove them, and purr at them, and say hello, and this has NOTHING to do with wanting to rub on all their stuff to dry off and also mark them with a bunch of cat stank so that people are like 'what the fuck were you *doing*, guys??' "Whatter you summoning, anyways?"
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Trey says, “Oh, I'm not summoning anything till tomorrow." He chuckles and offers a wry 'what can you do' look to the Uktena, who are still laughing; the younger one tries to disentangle the moonkitty from their stuff, but the elder stops her. Something about 'that kitty is an Elder Garou.' He's answering the same way, the yorls and blrrts and err errs a little strange from a human face, but hey, they're used to howling homids, so this won't be *that* weird. "Night spirit. Now... I need to do the Cleansing at dawn; I figured just after is when they would be a little weaker but not *too* weak to answer, and then I'd bargain with them, and make myself a handy little Nyx's Bangle Ring Thing." He pulls out the ring to show her -- stainless steel, well carved with the sigils for Night, Darkness, and Nyx inked in with blacking.
Irsa has arrived.
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At the moment there's a couple Uktena off to one side that are being loved on by a wet white kitten, caught in that zone of 'I don't want my stuff to smell like wet cat' vs 'god damned cat is an elder garou so what do I even DO about it'. She viciously attacks the shoulder strap of one of their packs, ruthlessly headbutts the younger one in the knee, and then abandons them after having laid her stank down on them. Racing back to Trey so she can talk to him while mauling a leaf to death, "You know Nyx's moon orbits our totem's sphere?"
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Trey ohhhs and says, "Oh, that's right... huh! That actually makes it make sense, then, because I had Meros in the circle diagram, but in the wrong spot. He gets supremacy if Nyx is his moon, and we put Nyx at one o' clock, Meros at 11? Luna... hrm. Maybe I don't put Luna at all, since this is a fetish for darkness." Trey is seated on the ground, his long hair wet, an empty water bottle in front of him, and a ruined diagram of a summoning circle splashed with water.
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Finally, a new moon. It's a great time to go out on a sept patrol, and Hammer-Tooth has just finished up with hers. The Bone Gnawer growls a wolfish farewell to her patrol group and heads towards the Ritual Circle. Like you do when you're a busy, busy theurge, with a mountain of things to craft. Foolish mortal!
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"Well Luna does have a dark side," Iris-kitty offers, "You have markings for her dark side? She doesn't actually turn, so one side is always light and one side is always dark, so she makes a fine home for darkness spirits. When robots aren't lighting things up, that is." The small kitten lights on fire, burning with low blue-orange flames in an effort to speed dry her fur. She makes sure she's sitting on some bare earth for that, not on intact grass. She then YOOOOOOWLs at Irsa and sits up to paw at the air in an effort to wave hello.
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Trey cracks up at the turning-to-fire part and says, "Good point," and then sketches in the dark-side Luna markings descendant rather than ascendant. He studies the sketch, and then looks up as a familiar scent reaches him. "Irsa!" He grins at the yowl from Mercy-kitten, and says, "Working on the summoning circle for the first fetish I'm making, hopefully tomorrow morning. How are you?"
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Ragged Brown Wolf halts in her tracks as she spots the flaming kitten. She eyes it warily as her nostrils snuff in overtime. >> Flat thing! << she yowls, trotting over to aggressively, and affectionally, slobber over the smol white fluffball. She's probably going to have singed fur, but lo! There are Gifts and regeneration for that. >> A spirit-house? That is very good. What are you making? I am well. We found a beast that was tainted near our hunting grounds, but it is dead now. <<
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Iris-cat sizzles and snuffs out her flames, most of her fur nice and dried in just a few minutes. Except for her head, which is now slicked back and slobbery aside from that one partial, off center mohawk. So she launches at Irsa to take her down! Which is totally doable, since even as a kitten she has all the force and strength of a wolf. RAR! Take THAT, punk! Iris-cat will groom your face within an inch of your life!
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Trey chuckles helplessly and offers a scritch to each of them -- he doesn't seem to care about the slobber all over the place. "It is, I'm excited. I'm making a finger-thing. Nyx's Bangle, but a ring." Seems like with all the language switching he lost a word or two in the process. "Oh, no, tainted? Do they need-- no, you were there, of course it's cleansed. You had good hunting, then!" Toothy grin. "Iris, you groom like my mother used to," he offers, "Like it was an Olympic sport."
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Ragged Brown Wolf crosses her eyes trying to peer at the kitten that's somehow latched onto her muzzle. She sneezes as cat floof goes up her nose. She somehow manages to chuff out a greeting to the two amused Uktena over yonder. >> The pack hunters are well, I Cleansed them, <<, she assures Trey. >> It was a young deer, not a strong twisted one at all. But I think we should go out again, and see if there are more. The stone-den the stupid-cub had made left much damage even after it was ripped apart by stone-spirits.<<
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Iris-cat crawls up on top of Irsa-wolf, and howls her victory. A proper wolf howl, mimicked of course, and looking like it's coming out of a little wee kitty. >>I HAVE LAID SMITE UPON HAMMER TOOOOOOOOOTH!<< she announces to... like just everyone everywhere. And then BAM! Homid, which was a good idea in the moment, but also she doesn't want to completely squish Irsa so she lets her very precarious perch on the wolf go, allowing herself to just fall off into a slightly moist heap. "It'll fix. Don't listen to anyone saying no deer will ever use those paths ever again, things recover way faster than any of us gives them credit for, just the concept of that doesn't mesh well with most Garou's defeatist attitudes."
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Trey says, “Nala is stronger and feistier than people give her credit for, sometimes," he agrees, chuckling softly. "But it doesn't hurt to look and make sure the cleansing holds. And you two keep it up, we'll need to get you uniforms with tights and stuff and start up the Garou Ladies of Wrestling. I could make a *mint*..." He grins impishly and finally goes to fish out a hair tie and tie up his wet hair. "Still can't believe that guy and the freaking castle.”
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Ragged Brown Wolf pokes Trey in the side and sits down next to the pair, looking up at her mentor. >> Yes, but there are some things that remain. Better to kill those few before they grow strong and breed.<< Her scarred ear flicks thoughtfully as she abruptly asks, >> Why do so many wolves believe that the Wyrm only breeds underground? I have heard that said twice in three nights.<<
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"Sure, yeah," Iris says while pulling her scarred up, unshaven legs in to sit cross legged on the ground, "But you heard what a lot of Garou were spouting during that whole clean up. 'Arrg, it'll be a HUNDRED YEEEEAAAAARS before any deer ever walks these trails again! Nature is RUINED! All is lost! the forest DESTROYED! But uh... No. Like there's literally deer walking those same trails *right* now. And the damage wasn't done by fomori or Spirals, it was just some vehicles and some unthinking ding bats. The bit of taint from the city things was cleansed, and oil spots dug up, it'll be quite a while before the roads they crunched through the area disappear in foliage again, but that, and the hill damage, that's really the worst of it." She shrugs though at the question and says, "I dunno, I think a lot of Garou get confused about what's a saying and what's a fact. Although it's a fact that you get way less interruptions when you're growing in a cave than you do when you're sitting in a clearing. There's some weeeeeeird shit underground where you can hide away from prying eyes and meddling gods!"
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Trey raises brows at Irsa's comment about underground. "Anyone who thinks that hasn't looked at a smokestack lately." He winces at the idea of what lies beneath, but adds, "Time heals. And the deer, yeah, they will come back if they see a place to graze that is safe. And I think some people never learn to consider things critically before believing it. I mean, my Kuasha used to regularly hand me bullshit nontruths to see how long it would take me to figure them out. But... Cats are different from Wolves. And I guess when they're young, wolves need some kind of law or rule of it all to hang on to in order to try and make it all make sense."
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Ragged Brown Wolf growls softly and begins to shift into her birth form. Wolf is the best skin for patrols, but its awful for discussing thoughts and concepts. "You ain't wrong 'bout that," she remarks to the others. "But it's also a fact that a lotta Garou don't know th' city, like, at all. Sure things breed in sewers an' shit, but I've run inta even more things at street level and even waaay up top. You ain't lived 'til you've had a pack of leeches bushwhack you from th' rooftops." She plops herself down next to Trey and checks out his handiwork. "Real nice," she compliments the Bastet. "I like these glyphs here, you put serious thought inta the placement."
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"That's very true." Mercy agrees, regarding the lost spaces of the city where things can grow unseen and unchecked. "I think - and maybe I'm wrong, I mean my training had a HUGE gap so I've got large holes in my own education - but I think it's more soecific things that give the impression that, like, underground is The Bad Place where the Wyrm is concerned. Like Black Spiral Dancers often hide and travel directly inside the Mother's skin, creating and traveling networks of tunnels. Hives may also be hidden underground, where the earth has trapped and contained the emminations that they flourish in. The Mold God also thrives under ground, and the deeper one adventures under the skin of Gaia, you run into more physical creatures that are just... *wrong*. Alien, unknown things, and that unknown factor sets them apart from the known things that have been found up here under the sun and moon. All the worst, most evil places can be accessed from under the ground, so it might be that which gives birth to sayings that then kinda get misunderstood and like you said, a lot of Garou are ignorant about the city world and what's in it."
Branton has arrived.
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Trey says, “The city is its own thing. It's the making of man, but it also has its own pulse. Just like people think of deserts as lifeless, they think of cities the same way. But the Umbra's no less populated in either place." His head bobs and he grins thanks at the praise. "Thank you! Working on a Nyx's Bangle tomorrow -- well, done as a ring -- and I was working out the summoning circle beforehand." He nods his head at Iris' explanation, and is taking it all in as she speaks. "Yeah. I think people forget that life... what's that saying from the movie? Life finds a way? Yeah, that. The Wyld finds her way." He is seated at the edge of the clearing with a sketched-out circle in the dirt in front of him, flanked by Iris and Irsa, both of whom have taken homid form. For no discernable reason, Trey's hair is wet, and there's a damp patch on the ground in front of him, and a couple of Uktena are still looking at them with amusement.”
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Irsa rubs her temples. "I gotta convince my pack that th' basement in our place ain't a deathtrap that's gonna kill us all," she remarks dryly. "I mean, we need defenses there, but it don't need to be a doom bunker neither." She's checking out a ritual circle Trey is working on, craning her neck to admire the glyph placement from every angle. "Now that's a damn useful tool," she replies to him. "I'm still workin' on Sanctuary Chimes." Her poor ears, summoning all those loud Guardians of the Gates.
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"We should do a trip around to some places, like *really* examine the Triat some time. Get to know it." Mercy suggests, settled cross legged on the ground, "Then you can lord your amazing knowledge over the other auspices. And cats, I guess." she adds with a gesture at Trey and a grin. "Hey that reminds me! Branton and I wanna come by the Mist House today, deliver something. We made you a house warming gift from our family, but it's been taking a little time to cure."
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Branton comes along, summoned by the speaking of his name, and smiles as he comes over to join the group "It’s pretty spectacular. And All three of us worked on it."
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Trey asks Irsa, "Have you considered installing one of those inflatable hot tubs? I saw one at Value Village the other day for like... 75 bucks. I didn't get it because I didn't have a use for it, but something like that might help. Could always run back and pick it up. Get a plant light, get the Frog Bros to do up some plants, put in a hot tub, have your own little chill-out room?"
He grins at her assessment of the fetish and nods. "I'm not bad at it on my own, but I figured... it was a good one to start with, because aside from the fact that Night Spirits are pretty damn willful, the procedure should be straightforward." He ooohs at Iris' suggestion and nods eager agreement. "Oh, we always lord our knowledge over other cats. It's part of the job. Which reminds me, I gotta go find the rite to let me share my accomplishments with the spirits and other cats."
He looks up at the arriving Kin-Sorcerer and waves amiably. "hey, man, good to see you! And oh, I bet it is... all three of you in on it?" Big smile follows that.
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"Fantastic, I always wanted to be th' lord of somethin'," Irsa quips. She tilts her head slightly to the side at Mercy's question, mentally visualizing her own busy schedule. "I definitely got time," she assures the Elder. "Left th' whole day free for patrolling, so th' rest of my day's all clear." She lifts a hand in greeting as Branton appears. "All three of ya? Holy shit, I bet it's gonna look epic." The Bone Gnawer looks intrigued at Trey's suggestion, and mentally spaces out considering it for a full good minute. "That's fully genius and now I definitely gotta do it."
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"Hot tub outside!" Iris quickly blurts, "TRUST me, you want that outside. Otherwise you're gonna have something collapse and have to clean black mold out of your walls, and at that point you might as well just set the whole place on fire. But uh..." She pauses for some thought, and while she thinks she makes grabby hands at her mate for some hello luvs. "A nice little pergola, a hot tub under it - PROBABLY you don't want to go inflatable since you're werewolves, but I mean how hard can it be to build one? It's basically a pond for people, so I bet the Frog boys could manage that. With a sweetass chill room right off of it for post tubbing relaxation? Oh wow, that'd be such a chill place!"
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Branton gives his mate a cuddle and smooch before nodding in agreement with his mate "In doors would also need a fierce dehumidifier and ventilation system. It could be done sure, but doing it safely winds up ramping up the cost pretty aggressively."
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Trey counters, "Sauna room? Or is that the same problem with the mold? I didn't even think of mold. I don't know a lot about how houses work, I admit, aside from the whole 'walls and floors and ceilings' bit." He watches the cuteness with amusement, and says, "Aww.. Hrm. Well, a fetish--" He stops, and says, "No, Trey, you don't get to try and make a fetish dehumidifier. That's a little too Rahjah." He looks up and then asks, "Okay, Branton, you'd know -- have you ever seen a fetish combined with a sorcery-enchanted item? I know you've done multiple enchants, but I was thinking about making items with sorcery and craft, and then using them as fetishes also. I don't know if the spirits would dig it, or not."
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Irsa rolls her eyes dramatically. "Mold builds character," she insists. "But yeah, I hear you. Th' others ain't Bone Gnawers, they don't jive with th' jury rigged stuff." She considers all the options she's heard. "No reason we can't do both. Outdoor hot tub and a sauna? We've got soooo much space in th' building. Shit, we got a full wing that ain't even been touched for remodelling."
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Mercy nods with a sad sigh and says, "Moisture plus enclosed spaces equals rampant growth, starting with mold and then graduating to whatever other plantlife manages to find water and purchase. Oh, that reminds me..." She digs in her bag for a notebook so she can write down another place on the To-Visit look. And then gets to a new pace and asks Trey, "What's your birthday?" If the character doesn't actually know, that's no problem, she doesn't sound like she NEEDS the information.
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Branton grins broadly at Trey "Elder Farshi's Grand Klaive incorporated Alchemy, Enchantment, and Spirit workings. There's nothing inherently unacceptable about it, especially if you're doing the work yourself. You just have to frame it properly in your negotiations with the spirit like 'I just wanted your new home to be as amazing as I could make it." To Irsa "If you've got a room with an exterior wall to put the vents in you could totally do it that way. And if there's durability concerns I have cheats for that. Home renovation isn't my primary focus but I can totally do some work."
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Trey hrms. "How high is the ceiling? If you've got a decent height on the ceiling, you can use it as the Crinos training room." He blinks at Iris' question, but after a moment, he seems to get it. "Um. Halloween 2017, born around sunset near Wolcottsville, New York. I don't have more precise details, my mom was a cat, so all she could tell me was that the sun was coming down."
He slowly grins at Branton's reply. "I imagined you must've done it. That is awesome. So now I'm gonna give some thought to something really cool to research as a fetish blank. And yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking for negotiating. Thank you, that's really helpful." He's excited by the idea, it's clear, enough that he pulls out his noteboook and makes a half-page of notes about it.
Mercy's Messenger loses one Willpower
<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======--->
Mercy's Messenger rolls Wits + Enigmas vs 6 for 3 successes.
1 1 1 2 2 2 3 +6 +7 +7 8 9 9
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Irsa thinks over Trey's questions. "Standard heights for a regular room. The basement's bigger, that's ten feet. But We can take out anything inside to make more headroom. We did that for th' pack apartments. Everyone's got enough space to make full lofts."
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Mercy nods at the info and is quiet while sauna planning happens, she doesn't know much about saunas except that the ones in Germany are very awesome, and also unischpritz is like her favorite word ever, now. While the possibilities of a luxurious renovation are laid out, Iris does a little bit of scribbling, a little bit of eyes closed centering, then snaps her fingers on both hands while making some funky theurge gang signs. Sparkles of starlight drift down throuogh the vents in the massive cavern's ceiling, stopping to hang in the air in the ritual clearing. It's pretty, but ultimately meaningless unless you're into star maps. The little sparkles just hang out there and don't move while people talk and Iris takes notes. "I think once you manage to do it, you're gonna make something really amazing." she tells her packmate encouragingly. And then adds to Irsa, "Basement wolf raaaaaaave!" and then does some untz untz untz boots and pants and boots and pants to back it up. She may have her Gnawer and Walker downtime methods confused.
<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======--->
Mercy's Messenger rolls Intelligence + Garou Astrology vs 5 for 5 successes.
1 2 3 4 +5 +5 +6 +6 +9 10
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Branton grins as Trey starts taking his notes "Elder Farshi's blade was comissioned by a Hakken ancestor spirit actually. Winds up one of his Ancestors did her a major service but she lost track of them." Is into star maps, at least partly because his mate is so he spends a moment looking.
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Trey makes note of the information Branton tells him, and once that's done, he peers at the star chart as well, because neat mystical stuff, yay! "I think so too. And hey, you don't have to have everything done right away -- with time, those spaces will suggest ideas about what to do with them." He offers a wry smile and says, "I am going to start looking for a place for my den realm, I think, because I do want one someday. And I'll want to figure out what I want in it. Not a lot, I think, but enough in case I wind up with a mate or kittens or both, someday."
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Irsa snickers at Mercy's performance, but she too is drawn into the results of the rite. "Tell me Trey's awesome ass is mentioned in there somewhere," she quips. "I swear, he's got a line a' people checkin' it out."
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"I've never actually seen a den-realm before," Mercy says, chattering while she takes notes and makes a complicated chart on what she's seeing, and consults a whole different notebook to cross reference some stuff. "I would *love* to see yours when you've made it, if that's okay. And to ask you like a MILLION questions about it. I mean, carving out umbral territory and pocketing it is not an easy thing!" She snorts a laugh at Irsa and leans on Branton while working, "Well this was the alignment of the stars and planets on Halloween of 2017 while Trey was being born, so his butt is definitely in there, cosmicly speaking! I'm not sure what they're saying yet, this'll take me a minute. There's some fun conjunctions in there, though."
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Trey nods and says, airly, "Well, it's a cat thing, you know. That's why Lynxes have short tails. So you can see how great our asses are." He grins back at Irsa with that, and explains, as Iris asks, "Well, a cat's den-realm is their territory, they own it. It's just its own little piece of the Umbra. I don't know how to make it yet, but... My Kuasha told me back when that when I was ready to take on Kuasha duties myself, I should find him again and he'd teach me. And that's part of the test, I'm sure. I know he has a Den-Realm, I've been to his. It feels... like the Umbra but like the Wyld here, too. It's kind of a cross-between place." A pause. "And of course you'd be able to see it. How much would depend on... situations. Like... if I wind up finding a feline Kin, she would have a harder time dealing with wolves in her territory, but a human Kin would be less upset about it." He studies the star map a little more -- the symbols and planets have meaning to him, as he's learned at least the basics of astrology through his mystical studies, but not in this practical manner. "And if it winds up being just a human or just a lynx, it becomes interesting."
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Irsa grins at Trey and settles back to listen to the others. "It's good t' have a Spirit home. Best I can do is create a rest stop, so I admit I'm hella jealous."
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Mercy gets everything she needss from the sparkles hanging overhead and around them, she's chatty but she's also not wasting time getting stuff noted down. After all, the sparkles of starlight only last so long, so she's finishing up just as they're starting to move again, fluttering downwards and fading out as they reach the ground. She'll have to do her deeper reference work later in a place with books and a table she can write on, so she packs the half-chart away in her bag and says, "Let's go give you ladies a super amazing housewarming prezzy! I've been dying to do this, I THINK Branton's as excited about it as I am, and Trey it might give you inspiration for something, who knows!"
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Trey smiles. "Don't be envious. We don't have a means to cross the Gauntlet until we're much higher rank, or we create a Den-Realm. In fact, some cats make them just to be able to cross." He chuckles. "Me, I'm making a cat toy, but I want to do the Bangle first to be sure I understand the process clearly before I try something custom." He nods and says, "Want some help lugging it? And sure, inspiration is always a good thing. Oh, and I was practicing with the bow earlier, I think I'm improving."
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Irsa tilts her head a bit, focusing on her pack link. "They got th' heads' up, but I know a couple of 'em are tied up tonight. They're just gonna have t' live vicariously through me when it comes to visitors, I guess." She rises to her feet and shoulders her pack. "So, Moon Bridge time! Who wants a ride?" On the other side of the Gauntlet, Aelous is sipping tea from a flask, with a bland smile on his nondescript features.
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Probably hanging out with mini-Meros, doing brunch and watching their fuzzy followers mess around. "Sure! I mean unless you wanna take the long way. Actually, like, let's walk out off the bawn first, I wanna try and get in the habbit of NOT opening moon bridges in the caern that aren't done with a Pathstone. It's... risky, you know? I mean just totally circumvents security. And also fresh air is nice."
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Branton tilts his head as if listening to something far away, in fact that's what he's been doing the last several moments, but now he blinks an looks over at Irsa "I just got a heads up from Herself. Well...an image and I can tell where it is well enough to get there. Apparently someone at this warehouse has the Mother of Spells...vexed. And" Branton winces "From the bugles and confetti on the overlay its going to be a bit of an event."
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Trey rises to his feet, picks up his stuff, loads it back into his backpack, and smiles. "I'll take a bridge ride!" He stops with Iris's remark; then Branton's input makes him fall silent for a moment, and then asks, thoughtfully, "That doesn't sound good at all. Are you intending to check it out? Do you want some backup?" Trey may not be the baddest cat in the world, but he's pretty much always game to find answers, help friends, or... well, get into trouble.
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"Even better, I prefer walkin' myself. Just made th' offer, in case whatever you got is stupid heavy. But if it ain't, boot leather all th' way," Irsa replies. It won't disappoint Aelous in the least, he's chillin like a villain right now with his spirit bro. "What warehouse? What's goin' down?" she asks Branton, visibly concerned.
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"Well *yeah*!" Mercy says to Trey as if the very idea of him not going was ludicrous. "Fuck, the ONE time I try and be responsible... Okay let's hoof it, Branton you try and relay enough information about where it is so that Irsa can at least moon bridge us close enough by the time we're off the bawn. Aaaaaaand BREAK!" she does the football all-hands-in thing on her own and gets moving briskly so as not to waste time.
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And the two pack totems probably have Hecate dropping in with a bottle of Ouzo and a 'hey ya'all, watch this'. Branton nods at his mate and follows behind her close enough that he won't need his eyes to follow her since he's sending his gaze elsewhere "Not sure exactly what's going on but its on the inland side of the city's norther boundary. Almost as far from here as we can get while still being prospect adjacent. Closest sept holding looks to be the Underground Tech Haven, or the Black Stag Forge. Know either of those well enough to bridge to?"
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Ain't no party like a totem party! Trey hrms. "I know the--" He stops. "Right, not the one making the Bridge." He shuts up, miraculously, and motions to Irsa instead, a wry grin upon his lips.
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Irsa leads the way, shifting to her wolf form and bolting double time to get away from the bawn as quickly as possible. She can seriously haul ass in the woods, city wolf or no. Eventually the group winds up in a small gully, well-concealed from the prying eyes of others. >> I do, << Irsa-wolf rumbles at Branton. In the Umbra, Aelous' bland expression curves into a faint smile. ~ Hold that thought,~ he remarks to the others, heeding Irsa's mental request to open the Moon Bridge for the group.
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Mercy snirks at Trey and says quietly, "I do that all the time." while Irsa and Branton get their directions straightened out. "Tool check..." she says, and starts going through her bag while she follows onto the moon bridge.
