View source for 2023.03.19 The Moon is a Fuzzy Mistress

[[Category:Logs]] [[Category:Pancake]] [[Category:Trey]] [[Category:Branton]] [[Category:Irsa]] [[Category:Bastet]] [[Category:Garou]]
{{Infobox Log
|name      = 03.19.23 The Moon is a Fuzzy Mistress
|summary   = Trey and Iris’ first joint adventure, where she helps him navigate to Luna’s face, and be inundated by MOONCATS!, and meet Selene!
|icdate    = 03.19.23
|players   =  [[Branton]], [[Irsa]], [[Pancake|Mercy’s-Messenger]], [[Trey]]
|location  =  Umbral space; [[Sept_of_the_Enduring_Spirit|Sept of the Enduring Spirit]]
|spheres   = [[Bastet]], [[Garou]]
}}


Space Boat - Low Earth Orbit

Space. The final frontier.

Hanging in low earth orbit within the Aetherial realm is this patchwork ship. It looks like a gigantic child smashed several kinds of earthly ships together and forced them to be a single object. Many floored and wrapped in balconies like a paddle boat, spiked with massive masts like a galley, it could hold a small village worth of folk aboard it comfortably.

The ship is outfitted for long voyages away from home, and crewed almost entirely by spirits. There's a glass enclosed garden to produce food that's overseen by Sun and Water and tended by plant Naturae. A Lounge is available for drinks and food, with tables, beanbag chairs, and of course a karaoke machine that is jealously guarded and powered by an Electricity elemental. A section of the lounge has been built entirely of glass, so that one can sing and dance amongst the stars without getting lost in them.

The bridge is dominated by bizarre devices of umbral exploration, from a bejeweled armillary sphere for steering to consoles of mounted maps and strange navigational devices. There aren't intercoms on the ship, but there are large mouthed lizards that yell the captain's orders across the ship when needed. A pennon waves at the highest point of the ship, and it's sails are huge, marvelous things of red and gold, black and silver. A small row boat kept at the stern provides a quick and automated way to get to a planet's surface and back again.

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So here we are, in frickin space, on a boat, going to the moon. Trey is DOOMED! Or this is all a fever dream, whatever.

Iris waves Trey over and steps aside from the armillary sphere, and says, "Here, learn how to drive! Put your hands on the rings here, and just... experiment. Turn different rings this way and that, but do it slowly and gently, no big sudden movements or you'll hurl people into space and they're gonna be miffed about it. See, you can roll us side to side here, tip the bow up and down here, spin us around, and if you move two rings at once you can work the angles. It's exactly like a ship's steering wheel, but it has a lot more directions it has to account for."

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Trey comes over and places his hands juuuust where Mercy's were, and concentrates. He shifts one ring slightly, ever so slightly, moving them to one side, and then back. Slowly. He was told he'd have to clean it up if he puked, right? He hrms, and then starts to try the up-and-down control, the tip of his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth absently as he begins to figure out just how this crazy thing works. Or, rather, this *wonderfully* crazy thing, because it's certainly both of those. He laughs in delight as the ship does a graceful spin around the horizontal, and says, "If this spins vertically, do we fall off? That would be bad."
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"Fortunately, space is super weird in the umbra, I mean here we are breathing without suits, right?" Iris says with a grin, "So the boat sort of supplies its own gravity and nothing seems in danger of flying overboard just from tilting or tipping. Momentum though, that's a different story. Go whipping the wheel around and you could just start throwing things overboard. There's no such thing as 'up' in space, see. I mean, to the perspective of someone else out here, maybe we're literally flying sideways, you know? After all, you're not actually upside down with a planet under you, you're right side up with a planet *above* you. It's all about your perspective, because to *you*, you're right side up always." Luna's silvery-white sphere looms ever closer, somehow much closer than it was the last time Trey looked directly at the sphere, as though by not looking, the boat jumped ahead and skipped some distance.
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Trey huhs and makes an effort to wrap his head around it, and Luna catches his eye. He smiles at her, and aims them toward her, as best he can. He's a bit awkward on the controls at the outset, of course, and while he's trying to be smooth about it, there's an occasional jerk from his eagerness. "She's even more beautiful here," he says with a dreamy smile. Oh dear. Catfatuation with a celestial body!
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"Isn't she?" Iris agrees with a knowing grin, showing no alarm or discomfort at the unpracticed hands steering things. She wasn't much better when she first began forging paths amongst the stars, after all. "Alright, now your first goal is just to get us TO the planet. You can see her edges, but only a silver of her is lit." Yes, I forgot it was the crescent moon, shaddup! "So aim for the light side of the moon. We'll save sark side exploration for another time. Find the brightest point of the light side and aim for that. Use the top of the figurehead as your aiming site, make your target sit right atop it and you'll be aiming true.
Like specks of dust in a beam of light, Lunes dance around Luna in a never ending prom night, but they stir, shifting as if coming towards the ship. "Your next goal is to recognize the guardians of a place. In this case, moonlight spirits, Lunes. They guard Aunty's home and make sure only the worthy can reach her. Don't panic."
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You say, “Not two inches higher like the bow, then," he counters with a chuckle. Oh, jeez, Trey, do not aim the ship like an arrow, you silly cat! He does, however, get the brightest, shiniest, prettiest spot lined up with the figurehead, with a lot of tiny little manipulations of the rings -- he's getting the hang of it pretty quickly, at least, the minor manipulations of it. "No panicking. Hello, Lunes! How do they best like to be greeted? I can yowl!" Oh, gods and tiny fishies, Trey, don't yowl at the poor Lunes." He's having the best damn time of his insane kitty life right now! Panic? Hah! He'd probably die going 'SHINY!' at this rate!”
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"Correct, because we don't have to account for gravity or fall like with a bow." Iris agrees with a sagely nod. "Lunes depend on the phase of the moon. During the waning crescent, they're mysterious, enigmatic, maybe a tiiiiiny bit cruel. Keep the ship steady and let them come, there is no way around this, so you just have to accept it, let it happen, let them test you."
Within a few minutes a large swarm of thinly shining spirits that loom pretty mostly like women in glimmering robes reach the ship and begin to surround it. At first they're curious, just looking, slapping a sail around maybe ringing a bell or rolling something across one of the decks, just checking out this weird thing coming at them. "Say hello!" Iris encourages, and does so herself, speaking in spirit tongue to announce, I am Mercy's Messenger, Black Fury Theurge, and this is Treads on Thin Ice, Qualmi Tekhmet. We come to see her majesty and pay our respects. And she quickly translates for Trey so that he's not left in the dark.
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Trey okays and smiles at that. He doesn't mind being tested. It's the only way to prove yourself worthy of attention, after all. He does his best to adjust course with the playful antics of the lady Lunes, still smiling, still bright. He does the same in turn, Well met, Lady Lunes. As Mercy has said, I'm called Treads-on-Thin-Ice, born on four feet, drawn most to the Lady's half-seen twilight face. Our journey is one of respect and honoring the Lady Selene and her Court of Spirits. And he sketches a bow as best he can with hands on the controls, merry enough that it might seem like he's either insane or taking everything in the joyous spirit he's shown throughout this trip. He shoots Mercy a grin and a wink. "I swiped that Gift from you when you first taught me."
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The moonlight ladies remain silent as moonlight itself, beginning to converge towards the front of the ship, blocking the view of the moon as if the stop Trey being able to see it to head for it. This tactic doesn't stand much chance of working though, after all, it's not like they're going to get run over, so they're almost immediately beginning a new plan. They begin shoving at the ship's sides to fiddle with its course, causing the rings to fight against Trey's grip as they mess with the ship. The next time he looks up, there are three identical crescent moons. Ah shit, which is which?
<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> <br>
Trey rolls Perception(3) + Enigmas(4) (7 dice) vs 7 for 4 successes. <br>
1 3 +7 +7 +7 +7 10<br>
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The Lunes cant fool Trey, it's the left hand moon that's the real one.
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Trey was sort of expecting to be messed with; back to the whole proving yourself thing. He blinks away the triple-moon hard and the left one retains the most truth to his eyes, so he shifts the ship that way, hands gripping the rings to make sure they don't get 'nudged' out of line again, or correcting for course when they do.
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Damn they thought they had him! The Lune swarm converses amongst itself quietly, and then they try a different tactic. They begin to join together and fade, spreading into a glittering silver-white fog that begins to surround the ship, fanning out around it and obscuring vision. If they can’t make him aim for the wrong moon, maybe they'll make him miss it altogether. Iris remains close by but quiet, alternately watching the Lunes and watching Trey. She doesn't tell him what to do or how to do it, this is his test, but she remains close by for emergency assistance or advice if he gets stuck.

<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> <br>
Trey rolls Perception(3) + Alertness(3) (6 dice) vs 7 for 3 successes. <br>
2 4 5 +8 +9 +10<br>
<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============-------------><br>
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There, the thinnest silver thread that is the outline of the crescent moon.

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Trey grins as the moon-mist begins to spread across his field of vision, and narrows his eyes just a little, getting the tightest, tiniest little view of Selene's shape. He smiles, determined and too pleased and half moon-mad to be turned away. "Tests? Okay!" He chuckles softly, and keeps his gaze right on the beauty of the almost-hidden moon. Almost! Not completely!
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Alright, you pesky visitors, time to break out the big guns! An Aetherial wind begins to blow through the moonlight fog, the sails snapping and flapping noisily the ship shuddering as heavy blows shove and push, trying hard to drive the ship off course and away. Silver forks of lightning flash around them too close for comfort followed almost immediately by the BOOM! of their thunder. A great gale begins around the ship, a storm not unlike those that a ship at sea might experience, but with way less chance of, you know, drowning to death. There isn't rain, but the skin of the travelers is pelted by stinging star dust and space grit. Iris fights against the heaving of the ship, yelling, "Keep her steady!" to Trey while she hangs on to something close by. While Trey handles their steering, she tends to the safety of the ship itself, using the big mouth lizards to pass messages like "Furl the sails!" and "Small crew get below!" The larger, heavier spirits aboard begin climbing to bring the fetish sails in so they don't get holes in them.

<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> <br>
Trey rolls Dexterity(4) + Athletics(1) (5 dice) vs 7 for 1 successes. <br>
1 2 3 +8 9<br>
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<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> <br>
Trey rolls Wits(4) + Enigmas(4) (8 dice) vs 8 for 0 successes. <br>
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8<br>
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<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> <br>
Trey rolls Wits(4) + Enigmas(4) (8 dice) vs 9 for 3 successes. <br>
3 5 5 5 7 +9 +9 +10<br>
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Holy crap, they really must have hated the cocky grin on the Qualmi's face, because the spirits redouble their efforts, and Trey finds himself barely able to hang on, feet bracing hard to the deck and hands moving the controls while he grips them for dear life! Star dust is still cold, if not wet, and for a moment, the sensation's sheer weirdness makes him shake it from his face, disoriented -- but he narrows his eyes once more and says, "I got us!" He's sure, now, steering toward that luminous curve, shaking off the space dust without giving up even an inch of focus. "Hold on!" All of the crew working around him make him even more aware of what's going on... and he lets out one long breath, shaking despite himself.
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The Lunes are determined to make the meat bags GO! AWAY! But alas, the fleshy creatures just do not take the hint. More glory for them, though! The ship was almost blown completely off course, or at least it felt like it, it's so hard to say when you can’t see anything but fog and storm. But when the ship breaks free of the umbral storm, holy shit the moon is like *right* there! "Pull up! Pull up!" Iris shouts, lunging forward to grab Trey's hands and put them where they need to go to jerk their speed way back and pull the nose up so they don't slam face first into the lunar surface. That would really hurt and they'd be stranded af. Sure, they end up a little cockeyed as they 'skid' with the 'breaks' on, but the important part is that no one died or ended up lost in deep space.
About a mile below them is a landscape like no other. Mountains of grey stone and pale white moonstone, lakes and rivers of flowing moonsilver, tiny moving things that are definitely creatures race along pale, sandy planes. And up ahead, more or less in front of them is a vast city, twinkling silver, white, and blue in the blackness of space. From this distance it's hard to see details, but it seems like it could be as delicate as crystal lace.
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Trey pulls up -- Iris' hands on his make sure of that, but he knows how to follow orders, too, especially from someone who's done this at least a dozen times before. He's working to make the approach look less chaotic, and eventually, the ship gets... righted, for some values of the word. Slowed, certainly. He gapes at what lies below and before them, and brings them in to a stop, a careful one. Trey just wants a moment to take it in, remember the details, in hopes that he can tell this story with justice done to the truth of it. "whoa," he breathes, beyond even basic words right now, just... staring with utter fascination.
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In a perfect world, the soundtrack from The Never Ending Story would probably be playing right now. But alas, it's mostly quiet. As Trey steps to the edge to just look at be stunned, Iris takes the rings and begins the delicate work of parking the ship. She doesn't expect the cat to be ready to parallel park immediately. The ship gets closer to the surface, and closer to the city ahead. A herd of strange creatures one hundred strong race a sinuous path below them, as majestic as the old herds of mustangs must have once looked as they raced across the fields and plains of earth. But they're not horses, they're cats. Big, strange, alien cats that never existed on earth. They mill under the ship, yowling and roaring as they converse with themselves in curiosity over this bigass hovering thing. When they're at a full, complete stop, Iris drops the anchor. Which just sorta floats in space, but it'll keep them from drifting off. "Alright! Success! Well done, clever cat! You ready to step your toes onto the ground?"
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Treads-on-Thin-Ice gasps and yelps, "CATS!" <br>
Very good, Trey, next week we work on numbers! <br>
He looks down, delighted, and decides he needs to be in a more cattish form, choosing to shift up to Catmandude form, making him about six and a half feet tall, lean, and lynx-ish. He beams at Iris, not really considering how much less pleasant that grin is with fangs, and says, "Oh, *yeah*, absolutely! Do we just... jump?"
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"Cats!" Iris agrees with a happy grin. "Garou like to pull the whole superiority thing a lot, but it's a proven fact that Luna loves cats best, Bastet are her favored folk." She nods, but holds up a finger. "First, some ground rules. Rule number one: you'll die immediately if you try to go swimming, so don't, cause it's like silver on steroids. Rule number two: Don't forget why you're here. Sure, you can just go running off with these guys, but if you end up a hundred miles away from Luna's palace, that's a hundred miles you have to back track, and I didn't pack us a lunch. Rule number three: *Enjoy yourself*. For most, this is a once in a life time opportunity, maybe you come here again, but never count on more than once for anything. If you want to see something, then see it, because you might never get another chance. Just keep it in balance with rule number 2. Oh, and rule number four..." Iris shifts downwards, but not to lupus. Instead, she assumes the form of a little, super adorable snow white cat, and leaps up to velcro-claw herself to Trey's back. "Don't drop me! When you're ready, when you're in a form you want, just hop right down there. Gravity's weird here, so it'll be a slow fall, you'll be just fine. This is your trip, so you take us where you want to go."
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Treads-on-Thin-Ice beams at that. He wouldn't've ever *said* as much, but everyone knows who Momma Moon's favorite baby is. "Okay. No swimming here, choose wisely when I choose to see things, and... have fun. And don't drop the little teeny Pancake Cat." He smiles, helps her settle in well on his shoulder for better vantage points, and draws in a long breath. "For now, I think I'm staying in Sokto. I can always shift again later but this is probably the most comfortable form." With that, he climbs up to the gunwale, balances deftly, and then falls off toward the moon surface, arms flailing theatrically. He's joking.
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The fall really is weirdly slow, and down below there's a big swarm of milling cat spirit thingies. A few of them make impressive leaps as if to try and grab Trey, but they miss. Was that on purpose, or did they fail to catch prey? Who knows. On landing, a little puff of dust rises from his feet and there he is, SURROUNDED by freakin aliens. Coat patterns never seen by man, features undreamed of. Some seem relatively ordinary, while others might fit in to a Final Fantasy creature cast. But all of them are in shades of whites, greys, blacks, and just the tiiiiiniest smattering of browns. Some are as large as lions or tigers, others as small as a Bubasti in feline, but every one of them is interested in what the actual fuck these visitors are. There will be a lot of cold nose pokes, maybe a few test nips, a sound headbutting right in the hip, and possibly some being squished between cats rubbing their sides against Trey because obviously he smells funny and needs their scent all over him instead. Iris, for her part, tries to stay right the hell out of the press and up high where she can manage. She's little and doesn't want to get squished. Or test-eaten. All in all, the cats aren't exactly shy, bold as brass more like, they have no reason to be afraid of any weirdo space sailors.
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Treads-on-Thin-Ice puts Iris on top of his head to keep her well out of reach. "Just try not to dig in too hard to the parts I need, okay?" So now he's a cat... in a cat hat. Why not? It's the moon, there are rules but they're so far from 'normal' that it's all good. He gets in some light scritches behind ears of the friendlier cats, hipbumps the extra-pushy ones, and saunters in a way that he doesn't in homid form, a definite sensuality to his movement, a pleasure in every step taken. He really *does* feel more comfortable in his cattier forms, it seems. Getting covered in manycatsmell doesn't seem to bother him... after all, it's MoonCatSmell, so it's *special*!! 
You can come with us, he says to them in Feline, But you gotta let me go see because this isn't a trip to the mall, friends. They probably have no idea what that means, but he doesn't seem to care, surging forward amidst a sea of gorgeous mooncats, his own pelt standing out by virtue of being more of a seal color in the markings with minky accents, but mostly whitish. And forward is toward that city he sees, skirting around the silver water and striding across the blue-silver sand. "Moon sand," he murmurs, "Need to bring a little back if it's allowed."
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The cats become a noisy cacophony of both spirit speech and feline. 
"What is mall?" <br>
"Where your tail?" <br>
"Why you tall?" <br>
"Why you smell?" <br>
Everyone's interested in everything, and a few minor fights break out where cats farther in the back are denied by bigger, more stubborn cats in front of them. "Mother will know! Mother will know!" They all definitely seem to agree with that, and the herd begins to lash tails and mill with excitement. "Run! Run run run!" There's no fear or anxiety in their tones, just pure joy and wonder. Their feet kick up dust and sand as they move, one end of the herd beginning to race, and those behind beginning to follow. Trey doesn't have to go with them, of course, but he's invited with head bonks and shoves by these wild, carefree predators.
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Treads-on-Thin-Ice is willing to run with them -- at least, a little bit. He was warned not to take off too far, but seriously, seeing a herd of cats who can be steered into the same direction, doing the same thing? This is no small miracle of Mother Moon. <br>
He answers in Spirit Speech just to be sure Iris can follow: Mall is place full of toys and fun smelly things of all kinds. My tail is just little! Lynx tail! I'm tall because Mother Selene gave me shapes! I smell because I do! <br>
He's babbling, but so are the cats. Isn't this a Hemingway novel, the Running of the Cats? Something like that. He is a happy cat, happy beyond anything he'd ever expected. To run with the mooncats, to bask in the beauty of Luna on her face, to... LEAD! 
THIS WAY! He insists, running them toward the city.
<br><br>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>

"Mall is there! There!" the cats insist, their flowing herd steered surprisingly easily by Trey. "Toys and smells!" they declare, aimed towards the city. Iris yowls tunelessly atop Trey's head, they're tiny sounds mostly lost in the din of thudding paws and excited mrowls. The city is... massive. Constructed of moonstone, silver threads and clear crystal. It's not as orderly as a human city might be, made by people restricted by laws of nature and reality. No, this umbral city is a master class of fantasy architecture. 
Columns that are too thin to support anything hold up multi story towers of impossible grace. bridges of moonstone arc up and down and straight through huge crystalline structures. Some towers almost seem to float, almost seem built upside down, suspended by thin silver cords. Huge gates of silver and white that could admit fifty humans side by side stand wide open, ready to swallow the cat herd. There's no people though. There's lunes floating, cats racing, but there's no race of moon people that populate the city. Those things that wander its bridges and towers and streets, they can float and fly, they don't NEED this, but here it is always, impressive and awe inspiring.
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It's the MOON MALL. 
The fucking MOON MALL.
Trey can die happy, now. He bounces along with the herd of cats, reaching up to gently hold onto the yowling Iris. He's not sure if she's unhappy or just joining in with the overall noise and fury of the thundering cats, but he wants to make sure she's okay. 
It's a shiny silver toys and smells place!, he agrees with them, and every little beauty of it makes him actually purr in giddy contentment even as the group races there. The cat herd and Trey and Iris and... pure catbliss. He's just... *basking* as they trot.
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Iris seems okay, she hangs on tightly but tries not to scalp Trey, singing tunelessly and without any real grasp of the words coming out of her face.

Inside the grand walls, the city is an ever changing maze of streets and paths. Fountains spray silver or clear waters, gracefully arched windows and columned walks hold pergolas of silver vines that bloom pale white and blue flowers. Cats more akin to house cats watch with haughty eyes from roofs and railings as the noisy procession streams along. There's small hunts in progress as well, cats stalking snow white birds with long, flowing tail feathers, but they never quite seem to catch them, only ever stealing a bit of plumage from them before they take wing to find a new place to perch. Entire buildings shift and move, closing off some pathways, and opening others, almost soundless but for the slight tinkle of crystal against stone. As Trey is lead deeper into the maze, the cats begin to peel off from the herd, so easily distracted by other things until quite suddenly, a bare half dozen of them remain with Trey. The way back has changed as well. Where there was a large, open road of light grey cobble stones, now there is a small palace, one of the many that surrounds them.
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The wonder shines in the lynx-man's eyes, and Trey watches as cats peel off, moving to pounce a bird badly in his current form -- he stops himself at the last minute because he has a passenger, after all -- and his claws click against the cobbles of the path. 
He picks up a stray feather from one of the beautiful moonbirds and tucks it behind one big tufty ear for safekeeping, knowing he will find a proper use for it later. 
"The moonpaths change constantly," he observes, learning even as he watches with wonderstruck rapture. The palace before them gives him pause. Whose palace is this? he asks the cats, wanting to be sure of a welcome before deciding to just... walk in.
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"I have no idea!" Iris says, using the Mimic gift to emulate human speech since she completely sucks at Feline speech just yet. "Luna isn't a singular being, she's many people all at once. In the tallest tower there's an aspect of her that sorrows and loves, and somewhere down below, hidden under the city is an aspect that is rage and fury, released only during the blood red moon. In a garden somewhere there is an aspect that is a child, the wonder of the young and daring that sneak out at night to catch fireflies while their parents sleep, braving the dangers of the night alone but for the soft, watchful gaze of moonlight. She is many, and in many places, so I suppose you could say that all of these palaces are hers, though as to what aspect, I'm not sure I could say. She has many, many, MANY forms, brought forth by every culture that ever existed on earth. Some may be guardians, others warriors, maybe others sinister forces, but they're all parts of Luna. Follow your heart, don't be afraid to climb, jump, and snimmy through the cracks. You're only ever as stuck as you want to me. What we're looking for is a garden, the greatest, grandest garden you could possibly imagine, somewhere at the heart of the city."
<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> <br>
Treads-on-Thin-Ice rolls Perception(3) + Alertness(3) (6 dice) vs 6 for 2 successes. <br>
1 4 5 +6 +9 10<br>
<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============-------------><br>
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Treads-on-Thin-Ice casts his gaze around them, letting both of his hands come to rest on the backs of two of the remaining escort-cats. He walks toward the palace, pensive somewhere in with the giddiness, and runs clawed fingers along the pillars, touching the moonrock-marble with a sense of the grandeur in his gaze. He then raises his head, sniffing, trying to capture the scent of flowers, or of any night-blooming plant that might waft on the not-air they're breathing. He looks down at the cats, then up toward the top of his head to include Iris, and says, ~Gardens,~ in spirit speech. ~Flower smells~. And in long, easy, loping strides, the cat-hatted sokto moves in the direction that his sense of smell tells him is the right way. Following his eyes may not do much good, but his cat nose can help!
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Iris hums quietly in tiny kitty form on Trey's head, the Futurama 'whalers on the moon' song, but quietly so as not to distract the cat from finding his path. She doesn't tell him where to go or how to get there, that's his business. The scents are, for lack of a better word, alien. These flowers don't exist on earth so their scents are new and amazing. And those odd flowers there, different, but possibly more amazing. This climbing rose bush stretching way up the side of a tower doesn't actually smell like anything, and the roses may possibly be made of glass or crystal. Up in that tower, a young woman pokes her head out to look down at the small procession, her skin pale and her hair a gleaming white that slides like silk from the window to trail Rapunzel-like far down below her. After a moment, she raises a slim, pale hand to wave with a slightly awkward curiosity before retreating again. "Phoebe, maybe?" Iris muses about the woman.
Now as for the approached palace, the ornate double doors swing wide open to admit Trey and... There's no palace on the other side. It was never a building to begin with, just a really elaborate palace facade that leads Trey into a courtyard. Flowers, a babbling fountain, and worse, three wide open paths to take. One travels... Let's just call it NE for simplicity, and down into a thick tangle of buildings. Another travels N and moves upwards onto fragile looking high bridges. And the last heads NW and seems to go more or less straight and level. The cat escorts all sit down and stare at Trey, being completely unhelpful.

<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> <br>
Treads-on-Thin-Ice rolls Wits(4) + Enigmas(4) (8 dice) vs 6 for 4 successes. <br>
1 3 3 +8 +9 +9 +10 10<br>
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Treads-on-Thin-Ice returns the wave from the fragile-looking woman, admiring the way the moon glints on her silver tresses, and says, "Maybe!" The smells are odd. Very odd. He gently brushes a finger along the crystal rose bush, and beams again. Another idea is added to the many percolating through his head. He just hopes he'll remember it all. As the doors swing open, he spreads his arms wide and walks in with a flourish and a light step, the weird but beautiful scents flooding his senses, the courtyard beyond filled with... decisions! He draws in a deep breath, and walks northward, looking down each path, the bridges drawing his gaze toward the north even if the level path is more northwest. He shrugs, and smiles. "Let's get a better vantage on this," he says, and climbs the path to the high bridges, the better to see the landscape (and sneak more glances at all the SHINY along the way. "This is..." he doesn't even try to put it to words; he just climbs up toward the spindly bridges, and if those aren't high enough, he's content to climb one of the supports upward to see even better!
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"Lead on, MacDuff!" Iris agrees with a chirpy trilling sound. The path is easy, but the bridges seem more and more fragile the higher one gets. The bridge meanders almost aimlessly, nearly transparent and thin as a sheet of glass, made of the wan moonlight of the crescent moon. As it arches high up, it begins to leave much of the city down below it, revealing a new layer to this work of art. The ever changing roads and paths below are like Van Gogh's 'Starry Night', swirls that move gently and continuously in this grey scale world, a thing of beauty to be seen from above as well as on ground level. And there, off in the distance, the grandest palace of them all. Spindly spires reach up into the blackness, their silvery tops burning with a pure white flame, its vast, ornate windows gleaming with the light of the moon itself. Past its domes, its turrets and towers, there appears to be a wide, round area canopied by pale leafed trees with delicate Lunes dancing over head. Now you just gotta parkour your way over there!
<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> <br>
Treads-on-Thin-Ice rolls Dexterity(7) + Athletics(1) (8 dice) vs 6 for 0 successes. <br>
1 -1 -1 -1 2 3 4 6<br>
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"Hold on," Trey tells Iris, and then he gets onto all fours, into the shape that is much more comfortable for jumping and parkouring and kitty-ing. Now he's the same basic shape as their companions, except a lot bigger. Iris now has a huge catmount for her tiny-kitty self! He can manage Spirit Speech in this form, somehow, and says, "Here we go!" And with that he takes off... and realizes that he forgot to take into account that this form is HEAVY as fuck. His lighter Feline form would have been the better choice. His first jump up to a spire ends with him landing face-first on the bridge, bouncing, and rolling off the side with a yowling and a scrabbling of his four paws in the air, trying to find purchase on... nothing. SPLUT. Kitty lands on rooftop, but thankfully, it was a slow fall, so he's just bruised.
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Iris's tiny claws dig in so she doesn't get flung off, and she yowls a cat scream of "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" and then pauses to suck in a new breath before continuing, "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" cause it's a slow fall. She's knocked off and sent rolling like a little snow ball when Trey lands, the wee cat standing up and arching her back, tail all poofed out, and she does the side-ways prancing war dance at Trey. "What kind of jump was that! You could have SQUISHED us!" Well, no, probably he could not have. She doesn't actually sound upset at all. She trots back towards the cat and tries to clamber back onto him again. "Okay, do that again, but without the oops this time!" Bright side, they're a LITTLE bit closer, right? Kinda? A little bit, surely.
<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> <br>
Canadian Lynx rolls Dexterity(7) + Athletics(1) (8 dice) vs 6 for 2 successes. <br>
1 2 2 2 3 +6 +6 10<br>
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Mercy makes an adorable pissed-off kitty. Trey knows that saying that will not win him any points, though, so he keeps it to himself and shakes off the bruising. "Okay. We're trying this in my breedform, much lighter. And I wouldn't've squished you! Much!" Well, he *was* moving slow enough for her to get free, but that's not the POINT! He shifts to his small. compact, lynxy form and dips his head to let the Iris-Mooncat climb back aboard. Now it's more like riding a horse than a bus, but it'll still work. And this time, there is actual success, as he gets his claws into things and climbs more like a Proper Cat should. "There!" Much happier, much more satisfied, especially now that he can climb and jump and... well, parkour all over the kitty place. The beauty of the landscape doesn't distract him this time, as he makes his way to the central palace and the sumptuous garden beyond it. Just think, he's brought his legend of Cat Comedy to another planet!
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The moon-cat escorts are totally, definitely not snickering at Trey. Not at all. Newp! ... Okay they totally are, that shit was funny, I don't care what species you are! Mercy holds on while the cat gets going, and when they have some very vertical moments she grabs a mouthful of fur to bite down on. Just in case. "Lookit you go!" she says. Or, well it's more like "Luffit a hoe!" cause her mouth's full, but she's trying to be encouraging! The going is slow, but still successful, the pair moving from structure to structure, occasionally jolting lounging cats out of their naps or sending flights of strange moonlight birds soaring in glittering flocks that shine against the blackness of space above them. The last jump is going to be the toughest, but there's no real way around it, they're painted into a proverbial corner! Now on a roof top JUST across from the palace, here is the first true hint of danger, the closest thing to jimp to is one of the spindly spires. There's a perfectly good ledge up there that'll let them drop on to the roof of Luna's palace and cross right on over to the garden. The problem is, that spire's tip is on fucking FIRE! White, bright, pure, blazing flame. MAYBE it's totally harmless and would only tickle. Or, maybe it'll incinerate them both instantly. There's no way to know.

<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======---> <br>
Canadian Lynx rolls Dexterity(7) + Athletics(1) (8 dice) vs 6 for 4 successes. <br>
3 3 4 4 +6 +8 +10 +10<br>
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Canadian Lynx is not bothered. Much. If you can't avoid being the joke, laugh along so it looks deliberate, right? Mercy's encouragement makes him chuckle, but it sounds more like a purr, which works just fine, too. He looks across and pauses. He doesn't regen in this form, after all. Fire hurts like a bastard. Um. He considers his options. Walking on the ground... isn't an option. Neither is failure. "Hold on," he tells Iris. And with one deep breath... he jumps. And lands perfectly, right on that ledge. He saunters casually to the edge of the ledge, dropping down onto the roof and making it look like the cool cat he *wasn't* on the bridge. Maybe the cats will think he did the last pratfall on purpose! As they float down to the garden, he lets out a sound that might be a laugh/
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There's a couple soft thuds behind them as two of their escorts manage the distance and land on the ledge as well. The rest, well, they didn't manage all the parkour, or got distracted, either way. But they're fine, it's impossible to fall to one's death here. The aura of the flame feels cold rather than warm, a cold so deep that it results in flames. Iris can explain that paradox later on, but for now, GARDEN!

The pale leafed trees provide perches to get down into the garden, and no earthy royal ever had a palace garden so lovely. There's grass here, a pale greenish-blue in color, and the trees are varieties only dreamed of but never seen by the likes of man, with silver bark and bone white flower buds that have not yet bloomed. There's large pond of water that's so still it acts as a perfect mirror, its surface dotted with large lotus flowers so perfectly white they make snow look filthy by comparison. Big, plump peacock like birds with albino white feathers and silver streaks strut confidently, spreading out their tails in huge lacework fans, heedless of how they're stalked by small white kittens on the prowl. 

And it's quiet. Not 'too quiet', just... the most relaxing, gentle quiet. This is the kind of quiet you need for the world's most perfect nap. And speaking of naps, there's Selene herself. Perhaps she knew she was being visited by a Bastet today, or maybe she's just feeling extra catty today. On a raised dais of moonstone flanked by fluted silver columns and shaded by a latticework dome of vines and white-blue flowers, is a cat. A MASSIVE cat, very nearly the size of an elephant. Her fur is snowy and spattered with silver grey flecks, her saber teeth like crescent moons themselves. The tip of her huge tail flicks and her eyes are closed, ears swiveling slowly and twitching now and then. To anyone else she'd look like she was dead asleep, but an actual cat would know she's not asleep at all, but wide awake, and simply lounging, staying aware of all that is around her but caring not for bustle happening in her garden.

You've made it, you're here, the moon mother herself awaits. Iris kindly climbs down off of Trey and shakes her fur out, grooming and trying to be presentable.
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Cold flames -- yes, he'll ask, later. 

Trey suddenly feels unkempt, surrounded by all this beauty and purity, this white that is somehow beyond white of the flowers and the plumage and the fur of kittens playing. And there SHE is. The most perfect, beautiful, amazing cat ever seen or imagined... there she is. She is aware of his every move, his every breath, and he finds that somehow comforting. He could be devoured by her here if she chose, and he wouldn't-- well, okay, he would *mind*, but...

Enough of the devouring thoughts. 

He comes forward in his cat shape, the shape she gave him at birth -- and if it was her gift, and it was, it's more than good enough to present himself to her in. Right?

Trey moves to stand before her, and watches her with avid, unblinking eyes... not a challenge, just fascinated. Finally, he lowers his head to her -- he held his own as long as he could, out of respect for the pride of the cats that are her favored children, but he cannot help but to bow to her, the...

Moon Mother Selene. He says this as if it were the only thing that needed saying.
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By contrast to Trey's reverent, noble attitude, Iris is a court jester. He greats her with awe and dignity, and Iris yells, "LUNAAAAAAA!" and charges full tilt towards the goddess. "Hm?" comes a sound from the great cat, and she opens her eyes - jet black with a crescent shaped gleam - and lifts her head just in time for the Fury to leap up and whap her head directly into the moon mother's nose. Iris errupts in cat chittering giggles, spots her tail, and attacks her own butt. 

"Oh. You again." mrrs the great cat lady in a deep and dignified tone, but there's a twitch to her ears and lips that suggests a smile. Right before she casually back hands Iris off the dais and into a bush. Iris has... an interesting relationship with the celestines, but thankfully that relationship involves being predisposed to liking her a bit. Iris doesn't mind being in a bush though, bursting out of it and going off to tear ass around the garden and play with the kittens, leaving Trey to his necessaries. "And who has she brought to me this time?" she purrs, flaring her nostrils and leaning forward to catch Trey's scent.
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Canadian Lynx approaches, then, a little less hesitant now that he's seen Iris get swatted into a bush. Somehow that has a way of breaking the ice. 
"I am called Treads-on-Thin-Ice, a four-paw-born child of the Qualmi tribe," he says with formality, but his eyes are bright with humor and potential mischief. "I am a student of Mercy's-Messenger, learning the ways of the spirit world." A pause. "And a very fortunate cat indeed to lay eyes upon you." Flattery, sure, but every cat has an ego.
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"Poor doomed child." Selene purrs in a great, quiet rumble when Trey makes his connection to Iris known. But again there's that little twitch of a hidden smile, so perhaps it was a joke. "But I suppose your name has prophesied this, has it not? Come, share your scents with me," She shifts slightly onto her side, the same way someone might scoot to make room for someone on their couch. "And tell me why you have come. One of your ilk need only look up to see me, so why have you prowled your way to my home directly?"
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Canadian Lynx doesn't need a second invitation. He sidles right up in there and lets her get his scent, and takes a deep inhale of hers, trying to memorize the aroma for future memories. "I come because a gaze from afar was not enough, because I longed to see you directly, and to lay eyes upon this place. Because... a cat should know the heart of our creation. We *should* know this as truth." 

He speaks truth, honest and unfettered, moved to the point where a human would be sniffling with emotion. Thankfully, cats don't do anything so undignified. Getting snot on Selene might amuse her, but it might not. "And because I wish to travel the Umbra, and the first, most important place I could imagine was here, right here."
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Oh, flattery will get you everywhere, surely. The great white saber cat eyes Trey-cat for a moment, and then raises one of her enormous paws to smoosh him down and drag him in. Lynxs are already little, and compared to her he might as well be newborn sized. But, while she's fucknormous and impressive and while her heavy paws may hide silver claws that could smite him in a blink, she's quite gentle. Insistent, not to be argued with, but still very gentle. The Lynx will find himself smooshed between her arm and the fur of her chest, and a second later he's being groomed. Yay, goddess spit! "A worthy goal. Are you not worried? I sense a very young age in you, and my handmaidens sing me only a short song of your life and the ranks that cats insist upon. Bastet are made to want and wonder, but you choose to want and have. Do you not fear for your safety?"

Meanwhile, there's a quiet yowling from across the garden as Iris goes racing, one of the peacocks chasing after her, determined to bite her tail off.
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Canadian Lynx nuzzles against the giant grooming tongue and purrs contentedly. Hey, goddess spit! It might be part of a fetish when we're done! 
He answers, "Worried? I will always wonder, always want to know and see and do. Having seen you... I will always know *why* I was made as I am. I will never wonder why I speak too often or ask too many questions. I am as I am because I was made to be as I am. I am one small cat, but I can never truly *have* all there is to see and wonder and want. And if this was the end of my short years, I have lived up to my name, I have trod upon the thin ice. I won't be forgotten. Even if I were to end now, there would be the tale of the small cat who went on a very big journey and was unafraid even as he made the handmaidens of Mother Selene laugh at his antics."
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There's a quiet, purring chuckle from the cat goddess, who seems to understand what the little Bastet is trying to convey, reading his emotions as well as his words, such is the empathetic nature of spirits. "You will be a daring cat of legend one day, I am sure. Shall I reward you for the trials you have passed to reach me? Shall I show you that which awaits you on your path amongst the worlds?" The offer sounds genuine, but there's a touch of teasing as well. It is possibly the same tone a cat would use when speaking to a mouse with its tail caught fast under her paw.
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Canadian Lynx is about ready to ask for just that -- who wouldn't? He pauses, though, to think it through. "I can hope that will be true. But... I would not ask that of you. I would wander and wonder as all of your Bastet children should. To know is to remove the risk. It isn't brave to take a risk I know I'll defeat. To be too sure... is not to be daring." 

Oh, he wants that gift, but... he's smart enough to think better of it. "If I look into that mirror, I'll see too much and learn nothing." Another pause. "Though I'll admit that I'd be happy to have a token of your favor if you would grant it to me, Fate isn't the one I'd ask." Brave kitten!
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Selene is hard to read when she's in her mysterious and enigmatic phase of being, but there's... approval, it feels like approval. "Then your destined trials I will not reveal, and the prophecy that is you shall remain unseen. Come." She stands then, suddenly divesting Trey of the fluffy form he was resting again. She steps over him easily, cause she's freakin huge, and pads from the dais and down onto a moonstone path that wasn't there a minute ago, the way wending towards the mirrorlike pond at the heart of her garden, where the great moon lotuses grow. 

"These flowers bloom for a thousand years before they wilt and fade to dust, nourishing the next generation. They are the enlightenment and blessing of the moon. Show me which one you like best, child." The bed of the pond is grey and thick with moon dust, a subtle testament to the eons through which this garden has bloomed that even thousand year flowers might make such a layer in their deaths while still blooming many at the water's surface.

And on the far end of the garden, Iris does mighty battle with an uppity show bird, side prancing and arched, the homid born picking her front paws up off the ground as if to display the jazz hands of war!
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Canadian Lynx follows, a tiny form against her vastness. He listens as he follows, and gazes into the pond with a wonder in his eyes -- it never truly goes away for our kitty -- and moonstones against his pawpads. 

"They are all beautiful but..." He pauses long enough to select one, the one he sees as most lovely to his eyes, perhaps the one that is most luminous to his gaze, or just the one that feels right. Even he's unsure why he made the choice he did. He motions to the lotus he finds most lovely, and smiles at Selene with appreciation for what thousand-year-flowers might mean compared to a lifespan of decades, if he's lucky.
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When Trey looks back to Selene, she's no longer a great saber cat, but a woman of human form, a queen of the moon. She is pale as the grave, her hair white enough to look almost silver, and of course her gown is the most queenly of queenly gowns, layers upon layers of white and silver with just the tiniest traces of blue. She settles herself at the edge of her pond and beckons to the lotus that Trey chose. It drifts slowly, seamlessly, causing barely a ripple in the water as it approaches unaided, until it's within reach of Selene. These flowers are huge, Trey could have used one as a boat when he was a kitten, for sure, and the scent is sweet and cold, like spilled honey in winter. 

Her slim fingers grip a petal and she very gently plucks it free, slipping it into a small leather pouch. She does this four more times, being careful and selective of the petals so that their absence doesn't ruin the beauty of the flower or hurt it in its growth. When she has five of these long, leathery, gleaming white petals in the pouch, she pulls its draw strings shut and offers it towards the cat. 

"I give this to you as a token of my love, Treads On Thin Ice, Feline born of the Qualmi folk. Five boons that you may use as you see fit at any time throughout your life, though only five. I shall never again share my lotuses with you, so do not squander the blessings I give you. Neither should you hoard them like a miser. Use them, but use them well." She does not deign to say HOW to use them or what exactly they do. Mysterious, remember. The leather pouch she gives seems oddly familiar."

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Trey shifts up to manshape to accept her gift with his clever hands, and a bow, and a warm smile. He doesn't really need to tell her that he'll heed her counsel -- it's all there in his eyes, and he murmurs, "Thank you. I... am grateful." And yes, he will use them, and well. "For your gift and your love both, I am grateful." 

He isn't sure why the pouch seems so familiar, but it'll come to him when he's not in the presence of a goddess -- HIS people's goddess, to be specific. He cups the gift between his hands, inhaling the scent of that snow-frozen honey in the air, and commits the whole of this to memory. "My love, is something you have always had." And always will, his voice says.
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Selene smiles the smile of an eternal, small and gentle and filled with so many emotions. Gladness, sadness, love, worry, all for Trey. She parts her lips to speak but pauses, tilting her face upwards to the lunes, who have begun moving in a tizzy. "You must go, both of you." Her tone is soft and gentle, but there's a sudden edge, like a sword blade draped in silk. "

A darkness comes that you are not yet ready for." Standing, she looks for the fury and calls, "Mercy's Messenger." Her voice amplified loud and thunderously powerful. The Fury stops her battle with the moon bird and runs towards the pair immediately. Selene's tone resumes its soft, gentle tone. 

"Take my child away immediately, and make haste." With a flick of her hand she opens a moon bridge. Not the bastard gift the shifters have, but a perfect silver circle opened in the air, and a short, perfect silver path that leads directly onto the bridge of the ship. In the background, past the ship, something red and fiery can be seen moving in the blackness.
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Trey presses the gift to his chest and takes one last gaze at Selene before he's whisked onto the path; his free hand reaches out for Mercy, and since it sounded pretty urgent, he tries to draw her with him at speed. She might, of course, have another idea, but he's willing to take this all at face value.
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Mercy leaps and velcro-cats herself to Trey's pant leg as he zips through the portal. Selene holds her hand up in a silent farewell, only just glimpsed as they return to the ship and the portal is closed away. Once there, the *color* of the ship is super jarring. You spend all that time in greyscale with only the tiniest hints of blue, and then go to a world where there's such things as brown and orange and purple, it's gonna be a real trip to the eyes! 

"Oh shit!" Mercy blurts, and doesn't offer to let Trey steer this time, just jumping on the controls and shouting to get the anchor up. A meteor streaks towards the moon, flickering with a fell flame as it rapidly approaches. There's enough time to get turned around and put a little distance between them and the lunar surface before it impacts hard enough that the ship is rocked by the impact shockwave. For a moment, the dark side of the moon can be seen where the fire blooms, and when she is struck it sounds as though a massive bell has been rung. But they're speeding back towards earth, the sails shortening the distance so dramatically it won’t take hardly any time at all.
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Trey hits the deck and holds on as soon as Mercy gets to the helm, and the ship rocks -- he relaxes only a small amount after the impact, but looks over the gunwale to see what happened if he can, despite the speedy return toward Earth. "She endures worse and survives," he reminds himself, quietly. Then he laughs wryly at himself. "How do you do it?," he asks Mercy. "Without every part of you turning inside out from the sheer *force* of knowing truths like this... how do you live in an ordinary world when so much that is... extraordinary... is right there, a step away through the mirror?"
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Slowly the crescent moon turns from silver-white to burned orange-red. Selene's pissed off, it would seem. But you would be too if some asshole just threw a flaming rock at your head. "Uhhh... I guess I try to keep one foot in the crazy at all times, that way I don't go through withdrawal. As for the rest? With great difficulty. I've discovered secrets that would have me burned as a heretic by my own folk, I don't dare speak them until someone else discovers the same truths. I'm trying to show Irsa one. She's going to be super pissed... But hey, how *was* it?? Was that not the BEST!? I love her palace so much, it's so weird!"
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Trey wants to ask; it's right there on his face. Heretical secrets? Yes pls! But he doesn't, at least, not this time, because... Selene. "Was... you know when Gimli meets Galadriel in the Lord of the Rings? Well, it was... more than that, somehow, but... it's so beautiful there. And she smells like musk and moonlight and cold air and warm fur." 

He's trying to pin the scent down, clearly, and that's the best he's got. "That was... oh man, that was just... *amazing*..." He tilts his head, watching her steer, and says, with a little smile, "I guess I'll just have to keep a foot in the crazy too, because I don't want to imagine a life without *this*... all of it... insane fetish-ships and moonbridges and Selene's herds of cats and..." He laughs, because what else can he do? He's one moonstruck kitty, but that's hardly a surprise.
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With there being a meteor involved, Mercy took the ship full tilt back towards earth, the road shortened again and again by layers of gifts and magic until they're suddenly slowing and sliding to a stop in a spray of earth's clouds. Anchor is dropped and she turns to Trey with a grin, "So, this is what *I* do, and I've got a lot of broken soul reasons for doing it, but I've shown you what kind of path I roll on. The unexpected, bumpy, weird path with pits of jello quicksand and strange delightful folk to meet. It's not always in space, there's plenty of crazy on earth to get up to as well. If this is the kind of life you want - at least for now, until you discover a new path you want to walk on - then you're welcome to join me as a follower of Meros and we'll go discover strange new places together or apart, but always with a high five and some wishes of good luck. If not? Totally fine, you're still welcome to join me even if you're not quite so dedicated to it." While she makes her pitch after their wandering test run, she picks up her various stuff, preparing to return to the ground level of things.
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Trey gently packs his precious cargo into his backpack, smiling as they gather their things back here at Earth. "Are you kidding? I am so down with this. I mean, I imagine every time is gonna be different, and every time is going to have new lessons, but... this is definitely a path I can do now. I'm a young cat. I should do this while I'm still young enough to not think about the risks, and old enough to not be *completely* careless about it." 

He pauses, and then says, "I may seem like I'm rushing, but... truth is, the past few years, I've wandered, met some great people, seen some great places, but I think it was all leading up to this." A pause. "Selene offered to show me my fate. I didn't accept. There's probably a part of me that's gonna wonder forever if I made the right choice, but I think I did. One thing I learned from the Fae is that truths foreseen aren't always truths that come to pass."
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"Personal opinion, definitely the right call." Iris says, "You don't wanna know your own fate, it'll just drive you mad because - yes, that exact thing. MULTIVERSE! Okay, let's go home and get a sandwich. She steps up on the bow's railing and channels some gnosis into the figurehead. A sparkling Sky Bridge opens right in front of the ship and shows a view of the meadow in the caern. She chucks a rope through it and sings a little song of home while climbing the rope. Here in space, the rope is sideways and you'll have to pull-scoot your way along. On the other side of the bridge, you're climbing down out of the sky. Theurge physics!

The forest floor of the Large Cavern begins to slope sharply downwards into a deep, subterranean valley, the pathway ages ago etched into long, wide steps worn by countless feet and paws over the years. The walls of this valley cavern are high and extremely steep volcanic rock and granite slabs, the ceiling of the cavern so high that the valley has taken on its own internal weather system. Hundreds of feet overhead, the vents and cracks allowing sunlight to filter through can no longer be seen, light spreading as though the valley were lit with a gentle and unseen underground sun of its own. Mist from underground streams and waterfalls create en endless cycle of clouds, brief rains, and evaporation into clouds again, while breezes from any number of caves and tunnels bring fresh air and move the clouds through their false sky. 

 The subterranean forest is thickest here, towering evergreen trees are dwarfed by the sheer size of the valley cave, weeping willows hang curtains of greenery over meandering streams and pools of mineral water. The steep, unclimbable valley walls are dotted with vines and bushes that have, against all odds, found purchase and growth potential. Stone pathways wend and meander through moss and wild grass along the valley, creating miles of walkways all throughout this sacred place. 

A large central meadow has become a meeting point for the valley. Near enough to the Large Cavern's steeply stepped pathway and with wide stone avenues branching away to living areas, shrines, and the amphitheater. A well maintained seating area takes up the middle of the meadow, with a stone pit made for a large bonfire, several old logs and small boulders pulled up around it for comfortable seating. A large and ornately carved totem pole stands tall nearby, detailing the leadership of the Caern. Also nearby, a massive stone tablet jutting four feet out of the ground has inscribed upon its polished face the rules of the Caern, unmissable by anyone in the area.
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Trey comes down from the ship along the rope, sorta-crawling, sorta-climbing down, backpack over his shoulder and his face flushed with excitement.
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Ragged Brown Wolf lets out a little farewell warble as Sable departs. She's sitting next to Branton's feet, as both of them stand beneath her favorite oak tree at the edge of the meadow. That same jay that loves to tease Hammer-Tooth when she's in her wolf forms chatters in the boughs above them.
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A portal opens in the air above a bit of empty, grassy ground, the sky bridge sparkling with star dust. A rope drops through it, and out of nowhere, Iris and Trey climb down the rope. When they're on the ground, the portal closes and the rope is severed. Iris ducks out of the way of the falling rope. "Shit, I forgot about that." she mutters, and starts gathering up the rope.
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Trey chuckles and helps with the rope, his clothes dusted with sparkly moon dust, beaming as he spots the familiar forms of Irsa-Wolf and Branton. Once the rope is gathered up, he shoots a happy wave to them, and then says, "I think a sandwich sounds good. Though if worse comes to worst, I've got jerky."
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Branton eyes the falling rope and says "I need to put in something to reel the rope back in once you're down don't I?" then he smiles and gives his mate a big hug "Hello!" Then looking to Trey "Enjoy the boat? heck of a view yeah?"
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>> SQUISH-FOOD!! << Ragged Brown Wolf yowls at the top of her lungs, pouncing immediately on her unsuspecting mentor. If she gets the chance, she's definitely gonna swipe her broad wolfish tongue right across the Black Fury Elder's face. It's true what they say -- Garou get totally weird during their moon phases. That watching jay lets out a squawk of alarm at all the racket and darts away to a much quieter tree.
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"Hello, my love!" Iris blares brilliantly at Branton, and reaches to give him hugs and kisses and ACK! She - and possibly also Branton - are smooshed! She goes down like a chump and gets wolf slobber in her eye and up her nose, but she doesn't take this shit lightly. Nay fool, she grabs Irsa's adorable wolf muzzle in both hands and pppppffffffffttttttttt! zerberts the ever living shit out of that little bit of upper lip right under her nose. Take THAT! "Is there any fruit? Nuts? Anything? We hungy!" she asks whomever, and also adds, "Ooooo a reel thingie would be gre-" Hang on, gotta zerbert Irsa's face again.
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Trey smiles brightly and says, "Oh, no shit, it's *amazing*... I keep saying that word a lot but it... just fits! I mean, holy shit, it's an Umbral Boat and I got to *steer* it to the *moon*..." He laughs as Irsa licks Mercy copiously, and Mercy returns the favor.
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Branton chuckles and goes for his duffle bag, diving clear of the puppy pile, and pulls out "Smoked almonds dusted with honey crystals. Some fruit leather. And some of our house made jerky." A sniff is given "Rabbit this time, must have been one of Pink's batches."
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Ragged Brown Wolf lets out a totally undignified yip as she's assaulted. She tamps down one of her honkin' big paws squarely on Iris' midriff and snorts into her hair. Ewww, wolf boogers. No wait, it's the wrong time of year for that and Hammer-Tooth doesn't have allergies. Mercy is saved, hooray! She flops down next to her mentor and stretches out her neck to sniff at Trey's hands before shifting back to her bad ol' homid self. "Ya got t' see the boat! Amazing, ain't 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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Iris picks up her shirt to scrub slobber and wolf fur off her face, her abdomen laced with patterns of scars briefly shown before she drops it back down again. She dives on that food. Which, weirdly, does not get the reaction that food usually gets from her at all. "Woo! Goddess I am *so* famished." She beams a proud smile and points a finger at Trey while making sure he can get some nibbles as well. "We had to take a test drive and see if a few things worked. Trey's pretty sure he'd like to join me in following Meros, and I'm pretty sure he's a Bastet and neither one of us will feel like we're in a pack of uneven power, so it's win win. He did a very good job passing the challenges of the Lunes to get to the moon without any help from me, and same with actually getting to Luna at all. I was just there for the ride, and so I could go play with the denizens while he and his goddess talked."
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Trey oooohs. "Rabbit, I love rabbit." Well, lynx, makes sense. "Oh, it is, it totally *is*... and I refuse to babble too much because I want to tell this story when I'm able to be coherent, but..." He grins broadly. "I'll be happy to take a little of any or everything after Mercy gets her share. I've also got some venison jerky if people prefer that." He digs, fishing out the plastic bag to share. "A friend back home sends me a bunch of it whenever possible." He beams at Iris' assessment, and says, "And you didn't even laugh much when I splutted on my face on the bridge," he adds, accepting a share of the food once she's done her diving.
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Irsa looks totally jealous at Mercy's account of the pair's wild Umbral adventure. "Aw, man. Woulda loved to have been there." She's not shy about accepting Trey's offer of venison jerky, nor Branton's offer of fruit leather either. "So, Meros? Yeah, I can totally see that. You got th' same spirit of adventure, for sure. When it's time for my pack t' part ways... way down th' line, hopefully, I'll definitely be joinin' ya two." She takes a bite of her venison and begins to chew. "I'd pay cash money t' see you steer that boat, no lie."
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Branton passes Trey the jerky and passes Mercy some of the nuts and the fruit leather, knowing her preferences. Branton grins at Irsa "I bet that would be pretty amazing." then to Trey "I'm glad things went well. Its the sort of experience that's hard to describe yeah?"
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"I thought about calling on you lot," Iris admits, "But I know you're dealing with stuff on t he home front, and Branton's hip deep in a few things well, and then we'd also have to wait on the kiddo, so I decided to heartlessly skip extra people and just seat of the pants thing since it was a sort of... What. Like a hands on interview, I'd guess. More of a direct purpose behind it than a 'let's go see what happens when we poke this thing' situation. So I've got it in my mental books that I owe you a trip to the moon, my darling apprentice, and Branton I know still want to go have a poke at the moonsilver or maybe have a gander at the Dark side of the moon. Besides, I gotta boat, we can get there whenever we want." 

She grins at Irsa and offers her a fruity bit. "Hopefully your pack goes strong for a long time, but if for some reason it stops going, you're welcome to. Especially now that you're higher in rank. You need the Mistseekers till the gap between us is smaller, otherwise it'd be smothering and unfair to you, I think. Him, on the other hand, independent and lacks the instinctual drive to fight for superiority or need to like... move in with me or something. Which is great, it's more like an adventure party than a pack, which suits me just fine." To Trey she adds, "I look forward to hearing a good retelling of the whole thing, I'm mostly full of memories of battling a peacock."

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Trey smiles and tells Irsa, "Totally would love having you there, too," he says, accepting some of that jerky and noshing happily between words. "You know, it's weird, I always thought packs were this... sort of written in stone thing, but I see now how they adapt to things changing and people growing. Probably why I'm okay with it. Plus cats aren't really hierarchical. I mean, I *respect* higher ranking Bastet, unless they turn out to be idiots. Met an Akaa once who was a complete jackass, almost sent me directly into a leech hangout. Still don't know if he was just stupid or an asshole." He mms and adds, "If Pink made the jerky, let him know it's good. Still tastes nice and gamey like rabbit should. Love it." Happy lynx! He adds, with a chuckle, "Oh, believe me, when we almost ran right into the Luna's surface, it was a trip." He nods toward Branton. "Exactly. It's... there are all of these individual moments that are totally funny, or fascinating, or just awe-inspiring, but putting it all to words is hard. It'll probably get easier as time goes on, but right now... not so much. I'm thinking I will try tomorrow. I want to tell the Spirits, too, because that's the best way to pass gossip to other cats."
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Branton grins and nods at his mate "I was finishing up this month's resupply order for the Patrol depot's public armory. I'm not as good for bulk production but I do what I can. I'm itching to make someone something over engineered and silly. Did I ever show you those notes I had for a spear? I was working on a spell for calling it back to hand after its thrown, could be pretty neat if I can get it to work."
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"Ya ain't wrong there," Irsa admits to her mentor. "Weird stuff's been happenin', but I can't talk about it here and now." Not a surprise, given her totem's ban. She listens to the banter, happy to soak in a good tale as she noshes away.
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"As long as it doesn't rocket back so hard that it spears you on the return!" Iris says with a laugh to Branton. "Cause then it'd be WAY too effective!" She grins at Trey's attempt to share the feeling of the experience with Branton, and while he's doing that she asks Irsa, "You wanna go freak out the dudes on the ISS with me later? It's not the moon, but it's hilaaaaaaarious. And like all you need is a cat toy."