2023.04.28 Niagara Falls, Take No Damage
| 04.28.23 Niagara Falls, Take No Damage | |
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| A trip across a moonbridge to the Niagara sept to sightsee brings Iris, Irsa, Jackie, and Trey to NY State, where they meet Evan, a young Galliard seeking a Bardic journey away from his home sept. With some negotiation, the young Garou joins the group in going back to Prospect. | |
| IC Date | 04.28.23 |
| Players | Evan, Iris, Irsa, Jackie, Trey |
| Location | Sept of the White Water, Niagara, NY |
| Spheres | Garou, Bastet |
So today's 'take a random visit somewhere' day, and since this is a trip to a sept, Mercy has made sure not to booch things too badly. She sent a spirit messenger well ahead of the group to alert the sept of an incoming visitation, and when she gathers up her traveling companions, she does so at the home sept's Pathstone rather than taking the boat. It's actually less work this way when the distance is only about two thousand miles. And it's the 'normal' way to do things, normal IS something she should be teaching her students, or at least let them experience now and then. There's chiminage and friendship offerings with the group, consisting of delicious foods, some talen materials, some healing potions, and a stack of mail from Prospect people that know New York people and aren't into email. Stuff like that, needful things but nothing earthshattering. With the travel crew are some one-way travelers that have some business at the Sept of the White Water, be it training to be done, family to visit, challenges to be seen to, and so on. Getting all the New York eggs into one basket, essentially.
The moon bridge is bigger than usual, thanks to the pathstone, bright and shining, kept as stable as a full moon bridge and without a hint of danger along the route. The actual walk to the sept will take roughly five to ten minutes, before they're let out within the bawn of their destination.
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Trey has shouldered his usual pack, and contributed to the booty some of his own blank, polished steel bases for earrings, making it easy to attach a gem or other item to make a fetish, as well as a bag of ripe California fruit from a known Kin farmer. Worse comes to worst, they can always eat it for a snack.
"This is so cool," he notes, and it becomes clear that this is his first actual experience on a sept-to-sept moon bridge. The shortness of the trip makes him grin; he says, "I so need to learn to do this." Slow your roll, there, kitty, you can't commandeer the pathstones.
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Bones snap and break, shifting and warping into a new form, as the creature before you becomes a ragged brown wolf.
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Ragged Brown Wolf bounds ahead on the moonpath, playing advance scout for the group. She COULD walk on two legs, but she doesn't know these Garou they're going to meet, and besides, four legs is best for running and walking. >> We are going places! << she insists to Jackie, her packmate. >> Have you been to New Land? <<, This is clearly wolf for... please, you know what it means, it's obvious.
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Jackie follows along the bridge, travelling pretty lightly herself. She nods at Hammer-Tooth's question, grimacing slightly. "Yeah, I'm from there, basically. In and around the area, at least."
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The moonbridge opens up into a lush green clearing, and the gang steps out to a round of applause! Just kidding, that's actually the waterfall making all that noise. There ARE people waiting for them though, and it's the usual suspects you'd expect at a visitor greeting. Warder, grand elder, tale singer, some rando NPCs ready to offer a drink of water, that sorta thing. The Warder is less interested in shaking hands and saying hi when people begin stepping out, far too busy scanning the group with gifts, JUST IN CASE. It's some oldass elders that make the hellos, a homid with a road map of lines on his face and hands, a lupus that's grey not from breed, but from age. "Welcome, Prospect!" the group is greeted, and as the de facto leader of the 'this is all my fault' brigade, Mercy steps up to go make an introduction and thank them for letting them visit.
The area is situated on an island, but naturally all these Garou dealings are shielded by a fuckoff thick wall of greenery; trees and shrubs and what not that keep all them touristy humans from catching a glimpse of anything they shouldn't. The Keeper of the Land does a good job here, everything looks lush and in perfect balance. There's an almost constant fine mist of freshwater in the air, it's not foggy or anything, it's just... a fucking *huge*ass waterfall, so the water to air ratio gets a little wild.
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The welcoming committee, on account of this being an organized and official visit by an elder from far away has a number of the Sept of White Water's notables. Including an indigenous man of Advanced years, with wrinkled skin and hair gone grey but still seeming very very solid and enduring. From the position of everyone and deferential body language is clear that the Elder is In Charge. There are also a scattering of other folks in formal tribal dress. A mix of Uktena like the old man and some that are /clearly/ Fianna. From the pale skin, some with blue paint, and Irish clan colors...it would be hard to mistake them for anything else. One of the pale skinned folk is a scrawny looking young man doing his best to not look like a child. He's not dressed nearly as formally and is trying not to fidget.
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Ragged Brown Wolf waits until the proper moment after the intital greetings and gifts are exchanged to speak. She's following Mercy's lead, waiting for the Theurge Elder to make her introductions to make her own. This is the point where she's forced to shift: tradition in the Nation is to introduce yourself in your breed form. "Thank you for allowing us to visit, honored Elders. My name is Irsa Rawlins, known around the fires as Hammer-Tooth, two-legged Adren of the Bone Gnawers. I am Alpha of the Mistseekers Pack under Aelous-- with me today is one of my packmates, Jackie Hagen, Kinfolk of the Get of Fenris, who recently crushed a Leech that had attacked me and was attempting to escape my pack's wrath. I am the leader of my Tribe in Prospect, from which we hail." Her regional accent is entirely gone, the cunning monster.
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Trey says to Jackie, "You are? I was born in a preserve about an hour or so from the sept here. You from this far north, or further downstate?" Nosy cat! "I do kinda miss it here sometimes. I miss snow sometimes, I'll say that. Even the air smells different. Both are good, and I love California, but I do miss winter sometimes." The sound of water makes him smile dreamily, and as they round the corner, the rushing sound grows strong. Blissed kitty. He keeps close to the back for the time being with the sack of Cali fruit, looking to the waterfall and around the island with curious eyes, beaming.
When it gets to be his turn to be introduced, he steps forward, puts down the bag, and offers, hands open and flat-palmed before him, "I'm called Trey Treads-on-Thin-Ice, four-pawed Qualmi Tekhmet, originally of the Iroquois preserve near the Tonowanda Res, lately of Prospect, California. I offer my thanks for your welcome." And he bows to the elders, then offers a mischievous look at the young man trying to look formal. Given how much Trey loves formality (which is to say, not at all) he totally gets it.
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Bones snap and break, shrinking and shaping into a new form. The creature before you becomes a dark, scarred woman.
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Mercy named their pack Punctual Porpose Plumpers of Pluto today. The ever changing pack name does give their hosts some pause, until someone mumbles something about Wyld weirdos, and then it's a whole ooooohhhh yeah okay, we get it, kind of thing. She doesn't introduce Trey though, of course, aside from the whole 'this is my packmate' thing, cause his intro is his own! Once everyone has gotten their particular introductions out of the way, Mercy makes with the gift giving, listing off some of the things the brought and pointing out which sacks and baskets are theirs to take hold of.
As for why they're here, "Your sept and lands are famous for their unique beauty and we just wanted to see the biggest waterfall there is while making some cross-country friends. We wont stay too long, just long enough to make some memories and maybe learn a few things about the area. You don't by any chance have someone without anything better to do than guide us around, do you?" she asks while looking around at their welcoming committee, giving Evan a grin. Kinda reminds her of her own kid trying to maintain formality and not fidget or get super awkward.
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Evan is quick to raise a hand and put himself forward at that point, more than enough of a performer to have caught his cue "I have no assigned duties just now honored Elder. If my seniors have no objection I'd be happy to show our visitors about."
Evan adds hastily "I am Evan Osian Davies, Human born Galliard of the Fianna, newly minted Cliath."
Evan adds again "Rited Collector-of-Tales" It all comes out like he's hero worshiping the strangers and too many new things to say has him tripping over himself
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Trey smiles easily and says, "That's a really nice offer, Evan Collector-of-Tales." He looks to the Garou contingent and says, "We should take him up on it!" He seems conspiratorially friendly, as if to say 'don't worry, we won't work you too hard.'
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Irsa doesn't even blink an eye at Evan's jumbled introduction. She messes up her own, and she's a Bone Gnawer, her tribe is about as formal as a pair of gym socks. "Brand new? Solid. I bet you got a story there about your name," she adds, which is totally bait for Galliards. "Yeah, a guide would be nice. I've never been to this place, and you look like you know all the good areas to check out."
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Mercy finger guns at Evan with both hands while giving their elder hosts a questioning look, and she gets the nod of agreement, she gives their hosts a bow and says, "Thank you again, we'll be sure to find you for a proper good bye, but hopefully we'll see you all again for dinner later." Doubtless there's still some younger sept members hanging about with questions and such, but other people have had to break off to do work carrying things. At least we didn't bring anything annoyingly heavy! Mercy shares some hugs around to various local ladies saying hello, it's awkward but heartfelt. Once she's free, she gives her friends and Evan a happy smile and says, "Great to meet you! Just call me Iris, if you don't mind. You totally know what we wanna see first while you're telling tales." to the kid. Obviously THE most famous thing to be seen around here, that fills their ears with the non stop drumming of water on rocks.
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Evan grins and nods at the Iris as he takes point "Sure enough. Now there are some hiking trails around that I can show you. Will head that way to Three Sisters Island first. We're on Goat Island right now by the by, no actual goats though. Least ways not on this side of the Gauntlet."
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Trey is led; he whistles cheerfully and notes to Iris, "As your packmate, I'm your designated stand-in menfolk for the day, so I already accept that it's all my fault if something goes wrong." He's fully expecting to get swatted for that. "Goat spirits. Oh *hell* no," he says adamantly. "Not again!" He laughs, though, and notes, "Never try and play matchmaker for a half-goat god."
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Irsa's hands slide into her pockets as the group sets out. She doesn't know what the local customs are on shifting and what areas are safe here for that, so she's remaining in her birthform. Her appearance is a magnet for law enforcement, so she's being as low key as possible if they get near settled areas. It's upstate New York, who knows what luxury get-aways lurk in these woods? "Don't drink with none, neither," she says, reverted to her normal voice the moment they're away from the sept.
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Jackie follows along, finally managing to answer Trey as they get some distance from the formalities. "Yeah, my family traveled around the area a bit, from here down into New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We didn't usually stay in one spot for more than a couple seasons at a time."
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Mercy bursts out laughing at Trey and says, "Okay good, then I don't have to look around all day for someone to blame. Way to take one for the team, Trey!" She startles at the mention of GOOOOOOOATS and looks a bit alarmed, "What is it with goats lately? Is the great Goat spirit trying to tell me something? What goat did I wrong in a former life!" She shakes her fists at the sky, though without any actual passion. She nods sagely to her fellows, and fills Evan and possibly also Jackie in, with, "I needed to get something from Pan, and a few people ended up having to play wingman and go-between for a horny god and a snippy spirit. It was very bit as weird as it sounds." And while they're walkin the walk, she asks, "So, Evan Collector of Tales, tell us something amazing about yourself. What's it like being a newly made Cliath Fianna at Niagara Falls?"
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Evan grins as he leads the way down the trail to the first stop and he gives what sounds like a practiced speech "Now since its after dark the island is closed to tourists so we don't need to worry about running into any mundane outsiders yeah? When we're in sight of the shore you still need to be careful but there's about seven hundred feet at least in most spots to the mainland. About me? Oh, I haven't done hardly anything awesome yet other than my Rite of passage turning out to be a bit peculiar."
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Trey looks over to Jackie and says, "I did some of that, too, during my training year. My Kuasha and I went around the area. Jersey gets a bad rap, some ways. Some parts of it are pretty. Others... not so much. Pennsylvania, same thing. But I think that's kind of a metaphor for America: Pretty some places, others, not so much." He ambles along and looks out with interest as they stop. "Peculiar how?"
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"I got drunk with another goat while th' dudes here were playin' wingman for Pan, and totally placing bets," Irsa adds for Jackie. "We'll have t' bring you next time, you'd have a solid chance of drinkin' an Incarna under th' table." She perks up her ears as Evan mentions a peculiar tale. "Lay it on us, G."
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Jackie nods in agreement to Trey, then gives a grin to Irsa at her description of what sounds like an oddball situation. Then she follows their gazes back towards Evan, expecting the story flood gates to open enough to compete with the nearby falls. This is a Galliard we're talking about here, and a New Yorker to boot.
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Evan grins broadly as Trey takes the cue, because saying it that way was totally a set up. When he starts to speak the fact that he's a gifted speaker and had voice training is quite clear "So I’m gonna gloss over a bit, on account of it not being appropriate to speak poorly of someone when matters have been settled but it came to pass that I was on a hunt for training and scouting a bit on my own on account of being the only cub in training. There were some tourists on the island that needed to be hustled off and the idea was to see what sort of story I could get out of them and spin to them to hustle them along. Only, as you can guess from my introduction it didn't work out that way almost at all. See, I found the tourists easy enough but they weren't human. At least not any more. They were Fomori." Dramatic pause.
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Mercy ALSO looks with interest to their guide, but everyone else is prodding him, so she keeps her own encouragement silent but visible in expression. Brows raised with interest, excitement on her face, all that. But she's still got eyes for their surroundings, physical and umbral both, and she's just... lovin it. Lookin around at what there is to see despite the later hour. "Oh, shit!" she says when fomori are mentioned.
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Trey lets out an 'Oh, no!' and then falls silent, understanding his job as the audience. He does, however, seem a touch concerned about how the young Garou got out of that.
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Evan arrives at the first stop, Three Sister's Island which is little more than a collection of rocks just barely big enough and far enough from shore to be called its own island. As the group has a look around he continues with his tale "Now I'm not completely untrained in matters of sneaking and snooping but it isn't my particular focus. I'm better at drawing attention rather than diverting it as I'm sure you can guess. This means I got caught of course and a strike team of a half dozen fomorians is a bit much even for one of Stag's children. But I did notice something useful as I was scrambling about doing my best to mitigate the in coming beating. They were still human enough to talk trash. And brag. And gloat."
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Jackie quirks an eyebrow at Evan at that. "How was that useful? It sounds more like it would literally be adding insult to injury."
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Mercy grins, cause Jackie has the good questions! But she is most certainly captivated and charmed by Evan's manner of storytelling, the personable attitude as opposed to the stage-speaking sort of vibe. While she listens, she gets out on them rocks in her bare feet, the better to use her toes to help steady her while she's moving and all, so that she can see the view. Holy *shit* that's a lot of water. Maybe you think that when you see the ocean, but that's *so* horizon to horizon that some of the vastness can still manage to get lost. But when you can juuuuust see some building on the fat side, looking all shrimpy, and hear the massive crashes of the waterfall and the rapids, 'holy shit that's a lot of water' really comes to bear.
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Trey says 'What the hell' and takes off his own shoes, walking onto the rocks to look out beside Mercy, pointing the far side out to her so she can see juuuuust how far away it is. Which is to say, not too far, but forever away. He hrms and perks up at Jackie's question, and nods to endorse it.
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"Fuckin' fomori," Irsa grumbles. "First they gotta make trash, now they gotta talk it? Nuh uh, fam." She's rivetted on the tale, like a solid Garou should be.
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Evan grins at Jackie "Oh and there were a lot of insults but I am a much better talker than a fighter and I managed to get them talking. About each other, about their plans for me, basically anything to stall long enough for the utter racket we were making to draw in the Guardian Pack." Turning to the Elder "Forgive the presumption but would I be correct in guessin that you'd prefer the less traveled route to our next stop? Going through the woods rather than the trail along the shore that goes around. Our next stop is the Cave of Winds."
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Jackie nods sagely. "Ok, I get it. When in doubt, stall for dear life?"
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"Aw Evan, you read me like a poem." Mercy says when the young Fianna makes his presumptions, "That's pretty impressive, and it's really true how much they like to talk. I sometimes wonder if the Wyrm invented Instagram models and such with the way they like to hear their own voices and talk until, well, until a pack of experienced badasses leap on them out of nowhere. Man, I hope that's not too common for you lot here, to some wolves with a sept deep in a forest away from people, it'd be so weird having humans that close all the time."
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Irsa grins as Evan winds up the tale. "Feels good t' make fools outta Wyrmspawn, don't it? One of my fav'rite things in th' world, no lie. Nicely done." She nods at Mercy's words. "None of us are gonna break over th' long way. And this Cave sounds amazin'."
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Treads-on-Thin-Ice grins. "See, I told you all that there was a reason I talk so much!" He makes a flourish toward the Galliard and says, "Nice work! And yeah, long way sounds good to me, too." He takes a moment to shift up to Sokto and puts his boots in his backpack, ambling on large footy-paws.
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Evan chuckles at Jackie and nods "You got that right." With a nod to Iris then Evan leads the way back inland and off the trail into the forest. It sort of doubles back a bit, cutting across the center of the island "Technically this is the shorter way in terms of geometry but it takes a bit longer because of the absence of trails. I wouldn't say what happened to me was common but there's some sort of incursion attempt every few months or so. I did wrap things up by playin dead for a bit towards the end and thank the Mother for healing gifts because I was in a mighty terrible way. I'm even workin on a song about it."
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Jackie keeps her boots on for this walk, thank you very much. "A song, huh? How hard is it to rhyme something like 'Ow! Ow! My back, my back!', anyway?"
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"That's very amazing, I'd say you were lucky but it sounds more like you're good at what you do and you've got very attentive and excellent Sept guardians. Well done, Evan!" Mercy offers the Fianna a high five. "We've got some Galliards back home that would probably love to put that tale into their rotation as an excellent example of tale spinner cunning and prowess. If you're interested in spreading it around, that is." She busts out laughing at Jackie and says, "New number one hit single, that!"
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Irsa trudges along just as she is. She's chosen a skin, she's staying in it for now. She'll probably regret that with those cheap Converse knock-offs on, but hey! Her feet are tough. "Easier than 'I kicked th' shit outta a Ferectoi on the ninth outer ring of Saturn,' for real," she remarks to Jackie.
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Evan snickers at the byplay between Jackie and Irsa as he leads the group to the hill the cave is in at the edge of the island "I've been wondering what I'm gonna do next because I...well its home but I kinda want to go somewhere else for a bit. And a Journeying period is an old bardic custom so the Tradionalists couldn't really tell me no." Gesturing at the cave "Its called the cave of winds because several of the cracks in the rocks run all the way to the surface and when the breeze off the river picks up it /howls/ in there. Combined with the noise from the falls its like you must be sittin in a storm cloud."
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Jackie cocks an ear forward to listen at the cave entrance, seeing if she can catch a bit of the foretold howling. She turns back towards Evan with a nod. "And as it turns out, sometimes getting away from your old home can give you a good chance to come into your own that you wouldn't have gotten where you started."
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"Really? That's so cool!" Mercy says, and she wants to get an ear full of that Or well, the mild version at the least, while the wind's not completely insane, so as long as Evan gives the okay nod, she'll be stepping in to have a looksee and a listen to the phenomena. "You wanna head back to California with us? I mean, assuming it's a destination you're interested in, and assuming your Tribal leader's fine with it and you visit your auspice leader to get any assignments. You'll end up back here eventually, everyone goes back home at some point, but if you need a little walk-about and if we're not stealing needed warriors away, then we're happy to help facilitate that."
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"Now that's a tale I've heard b'fore," Irsa says to Evan. "There's a camp in my Tribe called th' Roadwarders, kinda do what you're talkin' about. And we had a Fianna bard at th' sept not too long ago who was a traveller like you wanna be, but he travelled off again. Shame, he was a nice dude. I reckon if you come with, you'd fit right in," she adds, on the tail of Mercy's words. She's rubber-necking like a fiend, trying to get a better look inside this fantastic cave.
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Treads-on-Thin-Ice is looking around with a vengeance -- it's gorgeous in here, and while he's from the area, he's never seen this place. He scratches one cat-ear absently and smiles, noting, "My folk are wanderers, the Lynx-shifters. Some cats are less so than others, but... I'm from around here myself, originally -- oh, yeah, said that earlier, don't mind me... and I can tell you that Prospect is a nice place to wander if you're going. I wandered in a few months back, and now I'm staying a while."
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Evan nods at Iris "That would be grand. I'd considered heading that way as something to get to eventually but if there's a short cut I'll take it. Our third and final stop isn't too much farther, its the highest part of the shore. Terrapin Point. Great view of the falls and nice conclusion to our tour."
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Jackie goes along, looking up towards the point. "Any turtles hanging out thereabouts today?"
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"You'll dig it," Mercy says while they move on from the howling and-or whispering cave, "There's a private island, and woods filled with madrone, got some restaurants and stuff. There's a few packs, Irsa's pack follows Fog, and there's some Glass Walkers that follow Frog, and I THINK there's some others taking young folk, but I can not for the life of me think up their names just now."
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Irsa nods as Mercy lays out the status of the sept's packs. "Most of th' other packs are older, lotta the Elder's belong to those. But we also got some folks that ain't packed up yet, and we got a new dude who just arrived who'd love to be in one. Options, you definitely got." She has both hands out of her pockets now, stopping from time to time to check out the local plant life.
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Trey says, Yeah, that one is another young Galliard who's new to the sept, a Shadow Lord. Seems like a decent sort." He chuckles. "Elders tend to pack with elders, mostly, but if you're Iris, you take on a callow young kitten who doesn't know when to shut up and you show him the universe," he says with fond amusement. "Next caliah, I'm gonna have *some* stories to tell.”
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Evan shakes his head at Jackie "Not up on the cliff top where we'll be, they mostly live down by the waterline, in the slower moving shallows. Midland Painted turtles about the size of your hand. Wrong time of day to see any though." You can hear the thunder of the falls before you can see it of course but the view from atop Terrapin Point is amazing "And here we are Elder. One enormous waterfall, we're all out of barrels though."
Writing reality out to disk. Please wait...
Reality saved. Thank you for your patience.
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Jackie laughs at that. "Good! I'd rather not do any barrel riding. On the other hand, if you come out to Prospect, you can learn to surf. I did."
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Mercy responds to that with "HOE LEE SHIIIIIT THAT'S SO GINORMOUS!" yelled over the thundering sound of the falls while fearlessly leaning forward over the railing like that extra foot or two is going to let her see it all any better. She snaps her fingers with a 'damn!' expression though, "I was really hoping to ride over it in a barrel. FINE, fine, no suicidal fun THIS time."
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The thunder of the roaring falls can be felt long before it comes into view. Irsa edges forward reluctantly to peer over the edge into the frothing waters below, respectful of nature's power and the chance of mishaps on the slick rocks. "Holy shit," she says, unknowingly echoing Mercy. The roar of the falls drowns out everything else. "I'd hate t' have to cross this on a dark night. But I bet it's beautiful under a full moon."
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Treads-on-Thin-Ice watches the falls in awe -- he's seen the falls before, but not from this vantage point, and let's face it, some things never become less beautiful or inspirational. His smile is almost childlike as he takes it in, breathing the mist deep. He muses out loud, "Maybe not a barrel. Maybe like, one of those enclosed hamster wheel bubble things? Only person sized..."
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Evan nods at Jackie "That's a sane and reasonable position. In my experience though what Elder Garou can survive and find reasonable can be a bit different than the rest of us. So I felt like I should make it clear." Then at Iris' reaction he gestures and shrugs. Then he says, and somehow he can be heard clearly by everyone without shouting "Seven hundred and fifty seven thousand five hundred gallons every second. That's about three thousand one hundred and sixty tons of water. Falling about a hundred and eighty feet. That takes about five seconds or so. Maybe less...I'm bad at math."
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"I mean, y' could. You'd be just as dead though, batterin' your meat sack around in all them cool, confined whirlin' spaces an' shit," Irsa says to Trey. "But I dunno how that'd even work on a shifter, t' be honest. Regeneratin' that if you survived would be a bitch. Serious braggin' rights, tho." Hearing about that volume of water changes her mind. "Yeah, you'd be toast."
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Jackie shivers at that, and not just from the chill of the mist. "Yeah, I'll pass on that. I'd rather risk the sharks in the Pacific."
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"This was sooooo worth the trip!" Mercy tears her gaze off the fucknormously big waterfall to open her bag and dig around in there for her phone, which she opens up and turns to the camera app. "Everybody budge up!" she shouts over the noise of nature, waving a hand to get everyone, including their guide Evan, in a group for a cool picture. The lighting isn't the best but that's what the phone settings are for, the pictures will come out *great*, for sure! "Say moon-cheese!"
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Trey sighs and says, "Irsa, always ruining my dreams of... well, I guess dying horribly, in this case," once he hears Evan quoting the statistics. "That's... a lot of water," he agrees, letting out a low whistle that only partly works because his sokto mouth isn't really made for it. He pauses, and says, "Shit, I better shift back or be a walking Veil breach." He does so, then gets in with the others in the photo pile, bunny-earing Irsa and grinning. “Moon cheese!”
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Evan grins broadly and says "Moon-cheese." As the Elder directed and then as he leads the way back down the landward side of the point he asks "I think we've given the cook fires enough time to pull something together if you want to head back to the Caern now."
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"Moon-cheese!" Irsa has a terrible grin with that section of missing lip, but hey! These are just friendly family pics. The bunny ears are passed on to Jackie, while Irsa pulls a goofy face in the next pic. She switches places with Mercy, so she can get the Elder in some shots to share with her family back home. "I can get down with some grub," she replies to Evan.
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Jackie smiles, but tries to look at least a little bit serious. She fails, of course. "Moon-cheese!"
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Mercy gets a few shots of the group, of the falls and the area, just some cool photo album fodder to document their adventure to a new place, and she's down to hand the phone over to Irsa so she can take a few as well while Mercy pretends to fall over the railing. "Sure! Some dinner, some relaxing, and then we'll take a poll and see if we're staying till morning or heading back tonight. Anybody got a fun story to offer our hosts over dinner?" she asks around. She could do it herself, but it's cooler if someone else does.
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Trey says, "Well, I could tell them about our visit to Pan," with an amused look. "If nothing else, it's good for breaking the ice, huh?" He's probably kidding, but you never know with him.
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Evan nods and grins as he leads the way back to the gathering clearing where cook fires and feasting has been set up "I'll go around to who I need to talk to about takin off. Have fun with the feasting."
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"Yeah, do that!" Mercy tells Trey, but then adds to Evan, "Once the kids have gotten to bed, it's a bit of an adult story! But I bet the Fianna would enjoy a tale of satyr and grape juice." Till the appropriate moment, though, FEASTING! Because surely there's some excellent fare on, today! That's one of the good things about being a guest, you always get fed super well. And whatever hang ups Iris has regarding food, she can put them aside and enjoy things, god damn it!
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Jackie places a hand on her stomach at the mention of feasting, afraid it was going to rumble as she realized how hungry she was getting. "Wait, was it only regular grape juice? I assumed it would have been actual wine."
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Trey says, Oh, no, it was wine. It was the *essence* of wine. My regen didn't do shit against it, it was amazingly potent. We were all legless by the time we got back to the boat. Irsa had her pants on her lupus head.”
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Evan was not there and is off reporting in to his soon to be former senior officers. Some of them look thrilled to see the back of him, others less so but it does seem that he's getting his way.
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"Oh goddess that's *right*!" Mercy says with a laugh and a point at the Gnawer while she's super busy talking Theurge stuff with some other crescent moons, "I almost forgot about that!" She tries to keep an eye on Evan where she can, less out of any concern and more just trying to gauge the opinions and progress and quell any anxiety about making waves while they're here.
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Jackie just keeps her head down while Evan does his thing. It's slim, but there's a non-zero chance that someone around here might recognize her or even be related to her, and that's a complication she'd rather not have to deal with tonight. "You drank so hard your legs fell off? Sounds like strong stuff indeed. But I guess Pan must know how to party, right?"
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Trey grins. Helpful kitty! Poor Irsa. She'll probably be tempted to give him a swirly for that one. He tells Jackie, "Oh, not literally legless; just really, really, really drunk, falling-over kinda. And Pan... definitely knows how to party. But next time, we bring a designated boat-driver." He looks over as Iris does, trying to see what's going on. "What do you think? They gonna let him go?"
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Evan is now on the final approach to the positively ancient Sept Leader. He's Uktena not Fianna so the old bardic traditions won't matter as much to him. So Evan takes a moment to settle himself before making the approach.
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"No one seems *pissed*, so I think that's a good sign." Iris replies to Trey, snerking at the banter between him and Jackie, "I haven't been that drunk or laughed that much in a long time, it was a very fun night. I think you are right about a designated driver though, Trey, we'll want to train up someone for emergencies maybe."
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Jackie lets out a chuckle at that. "You know, in my circles, 'handling like a boat' is considered a bad thing."
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Trey nods helplessly to Iris' agreement about a driver. "Probably a good plan. You think there are pilot spirits?" He seems to be seriously considering this, which speaks volumes. He chuckles at Jackie's comment and says, "Well, I mean, it *is* a boat..." A pause. An idea. "Hey, maybe you should learn to drive it!"
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Evan nods to the Elder Uktena then backs up three steps before turning and heading out of the clearing. He offers Iris a discrete nod as he goes.
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"You could, I don't mind teaching if you're not busy with stuff." Mercy says, "Worst case, I will just go find a backup pilot somewhere, maybe here, maybe elsewhere! Who knows, we'll be directed to the right place though, fate's helpful like that." She flashes Evan a smile, and then informs her cohorts, "I think Evan's gotten the go-ahead to come along home with us."
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Jackie taps a finger on her chin thoughtfully. "I mean, I did just get done making fun of boat handling... But maybe I could manage it? I don't know, I'm not used to driving anything bigger than a surfboard on the water. Oh, he did? That's good news."
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Evan comes back after a few moments with a backpack and a dufflebag into which he has crammed his worldly possessions and he says to Iris "Thanks again for this opportunity Elder. I'm ready to go when you are."
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SO! Scooting right along, dinner is had and belongings are packed and eventually it's time to return home so Evan can get his howl on and people can sleep in their own beds. Thankfully the walk back to California only takes five minutes, and it's late so there's not a shit ton of good byes. And here we are at the moon bridge, ready to rock, to back in while flipping everyone off, or whatever your exit inclinations happen to be.
