2022.8.02:A little bit Abyss

A Little Bit Abyss
A journey to into the shallow reaches of the Abyss, and a quick jaunt through an Epiphamy
IC Date	August
IC Time	Early Afternoon
Players	Pancake Branton Irsa Akio Rhapsody
Location	Somewhere in the Umbra
Prp/Tp	Fun lessons for young Theurges
Spheres	Gaian Garou
Theme Song	Walking Dead theme music

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Cast: Rhapsody: Mr. Pink, Akio: Mr. Blue, Branton: Mr. Red, Irsa: Mr. Purple, Mercy: Mr. Green, ST: Mr. Black

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xxxxxOur story opens at Branton's home, in the garden as our heroes prepare to go on their adventure.

xxxxxBranton grins gives Iris' hair flip an entirely over acted sigh before turning back toi Akio and Irsa "I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it but magic item R and D is a big thing around here. And sometimes senior crafters will pass stuff out, as much to get field test data on their new inventions as to help ya all out."

xxxxxIrsa returns the shoulder bump and grunts. "Well, everyone's been racin' around gettin' ready to rock for th' Totem rite, so none of us have been meetin' up like we should. That's easy enough t' fix. I'll give ya a call, no matter what I'm doin', and we can hang out or run around and do crazy shit." She eyes the tea and steals a cup. Not really, it's right there for guests, but stolen stuff just tastes better. "I am down for field tests, for sure," she replies to Branton.

xxxxxWhile people are getting their last cups of chilled tea and stuff, Iris finishes up her double-check and stands up, sliding her back pack on. "Okay! You guys ready to rock? I packed lunches in case anyone gets hungry since there's nothing edible where we're going. Hope you like PB&J since that's whatcher gettin'. Before we get going, does anyone need to get or do anything? We're about to travel several hundred miles away from our current location, and I'm gonna be pissed if we have to back track for something that didn't get thought of before hand."

xxxxxIrsa double checks her stuff. "Nope, all good here. Got my crossbow, just in case, an' a medkit. Left my rattle cans at home."

xxxxxAkio grins at Branton and quickly gets to his feet to collect his backpack and katana. Slipping the backpack on his back he slides the katana on his back where it'll be secure while they travel. "I'm ready and good to go."

xxxxxBranton fetches a backpack and a duffle bag "My own gear and some spares. There is a case with a silver sword in it but its staying in the box unless we encounter enemy shifters."

xxxxx"Adventure tiiiiiiiime! Everybody in the umbra!" Mercy sings with the pure joy of a die hard adventurer, and once everyone's on the spirit plane she pries open a Moonbridge with a gift she has. She waits for everyone else to get in there and brings up the rear so it wont shut behind her and strand people here. And since it's a moonbridge with literally no forks in it, it's not possible to get lost, so even someone with no idea where we're going will be just fine in the lead!

xxxxxIrsa steps sideways. practically dancing with eagerness as she waits for the Moonbridge to open. She leaps into the breach without hesitation, keeping her hands off her weapon until its needed. This could open into a realm of Peace and Love, for all she knows.

xxxxxBranton had been preparing for departure for a while so when Iris says its go time its just a matter of the last spell to cross him over. He takes a moment to center himself as his elemental nature flares up to the surface and then he goes into the portal, backpack on and duffle in hand.

xxxxxAkio grins and when it's time to step sideways he follows and nods to his companions on the other side. Shifting to his version of a war form, half man and half fox, black-furred, amber-eyed with a spot of white at the tip of his tail. "We got a lot of walking ahead of us but it'll be fun!"

xxxxxIt's not a super long trip, five or ten minutes walking along the gleaming moonlight path in an equally moonlit tunnel that bores its way through the fabric of time and space to shorten distance. The bridge lets out into a desert umbral landscape where sand and stone elementals dominate the flat expanse, with tough drought resistant grass and cacti naturae. With nothing in their way to stop them, barely visible air elementals zoom and swish across the landscape, getting in the business of other spirits and riling them up here and there. Over head, bird spirits of Vulture and Buzzard varieties ride the currents of heat and wind, circling and rolling lazily. And there's the grand canyon! Wait, no, that's not what that is at all! There's a chasm there, just as big as the grand canyon that is filled with shadow and darkness. It's truly impressively massive in scale, and is not colorful like the grand canyon at all. Absolutely nothing grows near its edges, plants and elementals alike keep a very good distance away from it. At its edge closest to the arriving group, dust seems lazily yet inexorably pulled over the edge, swallowed by the unfathomably deep abyss. There is a single, solitary, spindly bridge stretching the miles across the chasm made of stone, barely wide enough for two people to cross side by side, with absolutely nothing supporting it underneath. Needless to say, it does not look safe!

xxxxxIris gathers everyone up at a safe distance from the edge and says, "Okay, I've got some rules before we go any further, and all of you MUST follow them." She takes off her pack and digs in there to withdraw a long length of rope, which she ties around her waist. "First, we're going to be bound together to avoid any unfortunate deaths. Me in front, Branton in back, Irsa and Akio can figure out where in the middle they want to be. Not to be at all insulting, I just want to make sure there's heavy weapons surrounding our young adventurers. Tie in!"

xxxxxIrsa jaw drops as she gets her first look at Branton in the Umbra. "That is so fuckin' cool. Branton, ya look completely bad-ass." He's gotta be, he makes all kinds of cool shit, knows a ton of things, and runs around with Mercy on wild adventures. She's silent for the most part otherwise, since you never know who's lying in wait on the moon roads. She eyes the bridge when Iris speaks about the dangers and nods. "I'll take whatever, Akio. Go on an' pick first." Once the kitsune has done that, she ties herself in with the others.

xxxxxBranton nods at Iris as he attaches an assortment of straps between his duffle bag and his backpack so now he's wearing both of them in a clear display of supernatural strength as he grins to Irsa "Thanks. There's so much hiding that goes into operating on the physical side of the gauntlet, its kind of relaxing to not have to worry." The last added with a gesture at Akio in his hybrid form as if to imply 'he gets it'.

xxxxxAkio realizes communication will be rough and shifts back into his homid form, the blessing of metamorph making his shifting between forms as easy as breathing. Taking the rope he gives a soft whistle of appreciation at Branton's form here in the Umbra. "Looking good my man." A wink is given to Iris as he takes the rope and gets into the second position, behind the leader. "Irsa, if we fall I'll land first so you can land on me." Grinning wider he checks their ropes then nods to Iris to show he's ready. Looking back to Branton he adds, "Yeah here it's easier to let loose and be myself for sure."

xxxxx"This is the Abyss." Mercy says, gesturing out at the shadowy crack in Gaia's skin, "It migrates very slowly across the world and has no physical world counterpart. It's a realm within a realm, as it were. This is a place of loss and solitude, what it draws into it very rarely ever finds its way back out again. I want you to keep this in mind, because the Abyss can find ways to subtly lure you. There will be no flying, no running, and absolutely no separating from the group at all for any reason. Do not give yourself even the smallest chance of falling in or becoming lost. If the urge to step off the edge of a path crosses your mind, slap yourself and shake it off, it's your mind playing tricks on you. We have to cross that bridge first and foremost, and I HIGHLY suggest you do not look down over the railing if you want to avoid the urge to jump in, there's nothing for you there but death, and nothing to see but darkness. Watch your step, touch nothing, take nothing, leave nothing but footprints. When we begin our decent, we will speak very quietly so that we do not attract attention from anything lost and insane. Everyone understand?" And assuming everyone does, Mercy leads them towards and onto the stone bridge.

xxxxxIf Irsa had wolf ears, she'd be flattening them right now. This is not a place to fall endlessly into nothing and die a pointless death. She nods mutely at Mercy's words and begins to move forward, stepping carefully and absolutely refusing to look down. She's not afraid of heights, but you do NOT test your spiritual luck and refuse to follow directions from an experienced Umbral traveler. Nuh uh.

xxxxxRhapsody has followed along, somewhere between everyone else. When they start to tie in, she places herself in the middle between Akio and Irsa. "This place is amazing and frightening, and I' m glad we are in a group and bound." Because she feels someone would get lost. A large swallow - hopefully with no dust - and she will follow where she is led today.

xxxxxBranton nods at his mate as he ties on to the anchor position once everyone else is on, he's not been here before but he's studied for it and trust Iris to know what she's about. "This would be worse than puking all over the deck of a container ship from two miles up because I looked down when flying out to the Island."

xxxxxAkio listens to the warnings and cautions and nods in understanding. Grinning and nodding to Rhapsody as he checks to make sure they're all set he starts to move with the group. Making sure to not look down, he keeps his eyes ahead and up so he doesn't accidentally look downwards.

xxxxxFor all that the bridge seems like it'd be a wobbly death trap just waiting to collapse at any moment, it's surprisingly sturdy and solid. Grit crunches quietly under foot, the stone so dry and so ancient that its surface merely powders ever so lightly instead of polishing with the passage of feet or time. Mercy leads the way in silence, she too is keeping her eyes on the path and steadfastly refusing to let her vision capture the vast ocean of blackness under them as they progress. It will be very easy to start feeling a tiny touch of vertigo and to be completely uncertain whether or not the bridge is swaying and upsetting your balance juuuuuuust a touch as the group gets towards the middle of the bridge and scant peripheral vision can see nothing but blackness if you're not specifically looking upwards at the sky. Should one look up ahead, it seems like the far side is so desperately far out of reach. ANYONE that peaks over the short railing of the bridge must make a willpower save.

xxxxxOnce they're across, Mercy is going to take a second to steady her nerves a little bit and just breathe. "You're probably wondering why we didn't just step out of the moon bridge on the correct side of the Abyss so that we didn't have to do that awful walk."

xxxxxIrsa stuffs both her ears full of mental memories of the sounds of laughter, jokes, and anything she can think of that's the antithesis of the void below. When the whispers come she grits her teeth, focusing on Mercy's instructions and flat-out refusing to listen. And then the other side is reached. She clings to the rope, holding it fast until the others are safely across. "Because... because we need t' cooperate to cross. To help each other an' not fall prey in the process. T' know what kinds of dangers we can face that aren't obvious."

xxxxxRhapsody reaches out to touch Irsa's shoulder part way through, but she is unsteady on her feet and grabs the rope instead. Her feet shuffle and she looks at the back of Irsa's head the whole time and praying to Gaia that they make it across. Once across, she breathes a sigh of relief, and gets close to Irsa waiting for Akio and Branton to finish crossing. "Perhaps because we need to know just how perilous this journey can be? Respect that sometimes when we seek something out.. it will not be easy and we need to trust in each other?"

xxxxxAkio is luckily light on his feed, the kitsune is built more for balance, speed, and agility than strength and power. Still, he's careful and constantly checking in with the others to ensure they're good to go as they move. "Yeah, I think both of those answers make sense."

xxxxxBranton grins as the shifters come up with all sorts of appropriate answers for this being a bonding exercise and then he adds as he steps off the bridge last "It could also be that some realms and subrealms in the umbra can only be entered in very specific ways. Like this side doesn't exist, in relative spatial terms, near anywhere except this end of the bridge."

xxxxx"You are all correct." Mercy says, pointing at the two ladies and saying, "That is the bright side of the bridge's purpose, to test any who would enter the Abyss, to steel their nerves and their resolve. Anyone who is not sure, who is not strong, who does not have true companionship will find the bridge very difficult to cross, they may lose themselves and jump. The dark side of the bridge's purpose is to lure you to jump by forcing you to *have* to cross it. Had we come out here, the safe path in would be on the far side. We came in from over there, so our path is on this side. there's no way to avoid the crossing. As I told Akio earlier, to fly here is to court death even more easily, wings give you a false sense of control, and you may fly down in, never to find the sunlight again." While she talks, she passes around a canteen from her pack so everyone can get a drink of cool water before they go on. She leads the way too a dirt path at the edge of the chasm that follows the wall down into the shadows. "Walk carefully, speak up if you feel like you might slip." Now that they're not on the bridge, the Abyssal darkness is less all consumingly drawing, but still, this shit is DEEP. The bottom can not be seen.

xxxxx"The Abyss, as I said, is a place of loss and solitude. They say it was not always so large, but each time something important is lost or forgotten, it grows, consuming what has been lost. With our world so populated and full of things and information, it's no wonder that the Abyss is as large as it is now. No one knows how deep it is, or where all of its caverns and tunnels go, no one's ever explored all its paths and crannies, and those that have tried have never returned. In the black depths there are pathways to Malfeas and packs of Black Spiral Dancers, but no wolf is so dangerous or feared as the lord of this realm. He was once a Shadow Lord before he was swallowed by the darkness, he forgot who he was and went mad, and the Abyss embraced him as its... spokesman. He can not die, but he does not truly live. He is mad, and he is very dangerous."

xxxxxIrsa gratefully accept the canteen, taking a sparing sip before passing it on to Rhapsody behind her. But now they're going down, and this is about to completely suck. She keeps her feet firmly on the path, still refusing to look down and using every trick she can think of to block out the whispers. Despite her size, she has extremely good balance and uses that knack to preserve her skin a bit longer. "You ever encounter him?" she asks Mercy when the Shadow Lord is mentioned. Nope, still not looking.

xxxxxRhapsody thanks Iris and Irsa, and takes a sip of the canteen. She passes it on to Akio. "That does make a lot of sense." She quiets down as they are moving, and she works on her balance. "Are there any signs we should look out for?"

xxxxxAkio takes the canteen when its offered to him and takes a sip before it's passed off to Branton. Listening to Iris speak of the chasm he still doesn't look down and instead focuses on moving with the group. He's careful while still naturally gifted with that kitsune agility.

xxxxxBranton nods at Iris's description "And that's why I brought Tranquility rather than left it home." Then Branton shudders "Just the idea of him is enough to freak me out." Then he takes his own sip of water.

xxxxx"I have not." Mercy admits to Irsa's question, "But I will have to if I'm going to collect a piece of the Abyss for the orrery. Not now though, that will be an especially dangerous visit fit only for elders and very strong sorcerers. Even the packs of Dancers that call this unfortunate place their home run when they suspect he is near. He is as close to a god as a Garou can get, and has lost everything of himself to become such. Even as the lord of the Abyss, those lost things he can never find again. Remember this if any of you ever seeks the Abyss in the future for some need, this terrible fate can happen to anyone and any thing." She shakes her head at Rhapsody's question, "By the time you know he's there, it's too late. You can run, but you'll only die tired."

xxxxxAs the path slopes its gentle way downwards, it switches back and forth in long, lazy ramps thin enough that only one person can move along it at a time. Pebbles and dust slip from the edges of the path and the sound of their clattering is jarring and perhaps even frightening, given the dire stories being told right now. Deep, deep down below come those whispers and the faintest wails and screams of madness and sorrow from beings who have become eternally lost in the darkness. The sunlight fades slowly, dimming as the group moves further in until they're left with a twilight haze of light that illuminates their surroundings juuuuust enough to see. Down below in the murk there are faint gleams of light, barely discernible shapes. Bridges in the darkness. A fortune in gold and jewels is strewn about one, another holds the faint bluish shine of silver, and another one is barely discernible from the shadows themselves. Dark shapes flit down there, tricking the eye and brain into wondering if they really saw something or not. xxxxx"There are a number of known paths here, what we're on now is the Path of Soil."

xxxxxIrsa clings like a burr to the ledge as she descends, keeping her hands and feet well clear of all treasure and spoils snatched from the Abyss' countless victims. Nope, not even tempted, this stuff is totally cursed, and what would she even do with it? "How many paths have ya travelled?" she asks Iris, keeping her voice down. She has no wish to draw the attention of the lord of this dark place.

xxxxxRhapsody keeps her balance - which she is working on! - as they travel on this path of soil. "I would have thought this path would have a more.. dark name.. dangerous even. Hmm." Glad that the slope is gentle at least. She shudders off and on as the path narrows. "We are not alerting .. something... with the pebbles falling down the edge?" She is putting on a brave face, but this is more concerning than she thought they would be getting into.

xxxxxAkio moves along the burr with the group and looks a little shook. It's either the story or the story mixed with the potential drop. Still he steels his nerves and buckles down to move with a bit more confidence as he looks to the others.

xxxxxBranton is moving slow and careful, his balance sure. He glances at the edge when Rhapsody mentions it and like Irsa he's not tempted by the treasure, that's not what he's here for.

xxxxx"Only this one." Mercy answers quietly, "And only for a moment." She doesn't answer Rhapsody. Doesn't want to jinx it.

xxxxxThe path becomes dangerously skinny at one point, requiring the group to put their backs to the wall and shuffle their way along, pebbles sliding off the edge and into the unknown darkness as they move. The danger of falling is very real and requires slow, careful steps, careful balance, with exactly nothing to hold onto to ease the stress of the moment. After a long stretch of this treacherous terrain, the path widens again and lets out into... a garden?

xxxxxWere it not so shadowy, so eerily still and windless, were it not for the faint cries and jibbering whispers of spirits lost in the depths forever, this might actually be quite beautiful, like a dark dream of the hanging gardens of Babylon. They stretch downwards into the dark, layer upon layer of terraces reached by loose, crumbling dirt paths, and there's the most vague visual notion that the same can be seen on the far side of the Abyss as well. NOTHING stirs here. The air is flat and still, the soil bone dry and there is no scent of fertility, no scent of life in these thousands upon thousands upon thousands of plants. Each and every plant is unique, no two alike though there may be some similarities here and there. From mosses to flowers to trees and vines, everything has had its vibrant and lively colors washed out to a mere ghost of what they once were. There are no animals, no insects, there is nothing in the garden of death except the plants.

xxxxx"This is why I wanted to be sure my dear mystics were here for this trip, this is a very important place. Come get a sandwich if you're hungry, and take some time to breathe."

xxxxxIrsa is NOT happy with this place, at all, but there's work to be done ahead. She gamely presses on, flattening herself against the wall and testing each of her steps carefully before committing her full weight to the move. She remains silent, focusing on the feel of the path beneath her feet until the path widens out and the garden is revealed. Her scarred lips skin back from her teeth as she softly growls. "How did this get here?" she asks as she looks at all the dead plant life and earth. "Did this place swallow it up?" She forces herself to eat a sandwich, though she takes no joy in it. Its fuel she needs for the journey ahead.

xxxxxRhapsody is taking small, shallow breaths. Sliding on her toes it seems to get there. This is a place of nightmares, but as told, important. When they finally make it to the wider path she lets out a deeper breath and blinks. "This feels so wrong." She cannot believe what she is seeing here. The offered sandwich is taken and eaten without tasting. Everything feels so dead around here.

xxxxx"The Abyss takes the lost and forgotten." Mercy says when they're all safely in the garden. "Each of these plants was the very last surviving spirit of the very last surviving plant of their species. When a kind of plant - any plant - becomes extinct, it's very last spirit comes here to this graveyard of Naturae. The plants are gone forever from the earth and can not return, the spirits are dead forever and can never be contacted again. The very last one always comes here when it dies, leaving a dead shade of what it used to be. This is a garden of memories. You may touch one if you like, but be delicate and careful, these husks are all that remains to prove they ever existed at all." To touch any one of these plants is to feel the pain, confusion and fear of the last spirit of its kind at the very moment of its complete extinction, a quiet, terrible sadness that comes and goes in a flash.

xxxxx"Whether it's natural disaster, a cataclysm, animal or human intervention, this is where the last ends up. Much farther down is another graveyard just like this, for animals, and one assumes there is another for insects. Other Auspices show other things to drive home the understanding of the Apocalypse, but I think this is a fine way to show a Theurge what that word really means, the absolute end of a thing, a graveyard for Gaia's creations and our spirit brethren. The garden grows as more die. This is why we fight, to slow the growth of these cemeteries and slow the loss of the earth."

xxxxxIrsa looks absolutely horrified when she hears this. "Oh no," she breathes, completely saddened. She carefully, very carefully, reaches out to barely touch one of the plant husks, sorrow flickering over her scarred features. She scrubs an arm over her face to wipe away a tear, something very few outside her own family have ever seen from her.

xxxxxRhapsody holds her hand over her mouth, fingers touching her cheeks. She's not crying, no.. no.. no? The tears fall as she looks at this graveyard. Sorrow tries to take over, but she is solemn. The pain here. She dares to touch lightly one of the plants, and her tears stream down her cheeks. There are no words here. Nothing but pain is in this place, loss. She moves away to be careful not to harm what is here. It really is tugging at her emotions and heart.

xxxxxMercy gives each of her friends and her mate a comforting squeeze on the arm, a kind rub of their back, a soft smile. "Not every death came at the hands of the Wyrm, or of man. A change of climate may have forced grazing animals to strip away the last of that moss, perhaps. Or maybe a natural flood caused by an earthquake drowned the last of those trees. Death happens, it's a natural thing that must occur throughout the eons of this dynamic planet's life. But where we can help, where we can save, we must."

xxxxxOn the still air comes a single soft sigh, like the last breath leaving a dying soul. With it a flittering of dust comes down from the distant sky above the chasm and down into the garden, slipping into a patch between other plants where it forms together around a rock into the shape of a beautiful, vibrant, tropical orchid. Within seconds its color is sapped away to nearly nothing, its broad leaves curl at the edges as its moisture is evaporated and its stem wrinkles in its dehydration. This species has just gone extinct. A plant lover may recognize it as an Amazonian based plant.

xxxxx"Come on, we're almost to our destination." Mercy says while stuffing the last of her PB&J into her mouth. She passes around the canteen so everyone can sip again, and avoid peanut butter mouth. Don't think she's unaffected, this life loving hippy most certainly is, but she has a relationship with death, and it softens this blow for her.

xxxxxIrsa gratefully accepts the canteen, jaw shifting when she finishes drinking and passes it to Rhapsody. "Yeah. That I ain't gotta problem with. It's all th' destruction for no reason for me." She's glad to leave the garden behind, but will always remember the lesson.

xxxxxRhapsody takes the offered canteen and takes a small sip before passing it on to the others. "It is the circle of life. It just... it just makes you really think. Think about what we can do. What is important and what is not." She is glad to move on, see what the next lesson will be.

xxxxx"Dead or not, this is a garden." Mercy says while they travel through this quiet and somber place, "Gardens are meant to have streams, and it's a dried stream that we're looking for. See up there?" she points towards small holes here and there in the walls above the garden, "Imagine water was pouring from those openings and winding through the garden. We're looking for one of those that's big enough for all of us to fit through one at a time. we might have to climb to reach it, but it's the only way we're going to get to where we're going. A plant may drift in as dust, but a language flows, you see. Those holes are where the last words of a languages go when that language is lost and forgotten. Take Latin, for example. For as much as Latin is taught and translated, no one knows what it really sounded like, the nuance and pronunciation, the slang. If languages are rivers, then the riverbed of Latin is now dry. When the last person that knew that language died without passing it on or forgot the words, the last trickle of the river ran dry, and the language itself was poured into the Abyss. Some languages are only known by a few, so they have small streams, others like Latin were spoken by an entire empire, and so they were very large. That's why we had to come to the Abyss to get Akio to a living language. Simply going to a conceptual realm is difficult at best, but this can be considered a back door, a little pathway between life and death, knowledge and forgetfulness. We will use loss to achieve gain. Help me look, see if you can spot a hole large enough for us."

xxxxxIrsa looks around as Mercy speaks, trying to spot a large opening they can all fit through. "So that's what ya meant when you an' Journey were talkin' the other night," she remarks. "I only heard part a' that convo, so it didn't make senses. Makes way more sense now."

xxxxxRhapsody nods, understanding about the garden. As Mercy shares about languages, she is learning something new. "I never thought of it that way." It starts to make sense. She looks around now to see if she can spot any place for them to make it through. Everything she sees is dust right now, but she'll keep at it. "Guess we are learning climbing today too." When in Rome!

xxxxxAkio listens to Iris speak, his gaze following her fingers as she points out those holes, nodding as he searches her features as she speaks. His amber gaze looks to the members of his pack, Irsa and Rhapsody before he looks to where Branton stands and nods. Looking back he gives a soft chuckle at Rhapsody's response with a nod of agreement.

xxxxxBranton nods and starts looking around, first at the group members to get a solid idea of their sizes. Stopping on Irsa "Well you're the limit. How are you at free climbing?"

xxxxx"I don't think Journey understood everything that I was trying to say to him, but that's not surprising, I'm hard to understand when I get excited." Mercy says, "I'll explain the important parts when we get there, though. This isn't a back door for all concepts, mind you. Emotions, for existence, don't die and cant be forgotten, so you'll never find a pathway between the Abyss and an emotional realm. This only works for things that can and do have a very definite ending or has been forgotten or lost. The trouble is you cant always know what's been forgotten, simply because it *has* been forgotten." She's helping with the search of course, but she's also trying to pay attention to their surroundings so they don't get jumped by something weird.

xxxxxIrsa grins and flexes her hands at Branton's words. "Just happens I gotta Gift for that. It's called 'Climb Like an Ape.' Long as I can get my fingers in there, I can climb as fast as I can run.

xxxxxRhapsody looks at Irsa, "Well that is really helpful." She is wrapping her mind around forgotten and lost and which came first. "That sounds like a chicken or egg question."

xxxxxAkio doesn't climb like an ape but he does search and sniff and climb. It's not a long climb as they're all connected together but he does grab and pull himself up to look as he puts his feet in to secure himself in two of the wholes and climbs higher. Looking down the wall he gives a soft whistle and nods down the way a bit and adds, "Hundred feet forward, maybe fifty feet up there looks to be something like what we're looking for." Climbing back down he motions for the group as as they move then points up so they can all climb.

xxxxxBranton gets out a coil of climbing rope and passes it to Irsa for her to carry it up "Looks like that'll do. Here you go."

xxxxx"It very much is." Iris says to Rhapsody with a smile. When Akio spots something promising she says, "Huh, fitting. That's a good omen. Alright, everyone be *careful*. Take your time, and if there's a problem or you feel like you're going to slip, you say something right away. Double check your rope, make sure the knots are tight so we don't lose anyone to a fall. If you have gifts to help you, definitely use them, and if not, just be as safe as you can. Branton, you're on rescue detail, if anyone falls, I need you and your flight boots to help them. My wings will be more of a hindrance here and could harm the garden, so I cant use them." She cant help looking a little worried, but doesn't object to Irsa loosing herself from their person to person rope so she can get a good anchor line up there for the rest to use.

xxxxxIrsa nods at Rhapsody. "Yeah, it's a damn useful thing for a city pack. You can get up high t' spot or snipe, ambush the hell outta anyone who ain't expectin' it. Use th' roofs for fast travel an' get' away from pursuers who can't reach ya from the street." Having said this, she takes the offered rope from Branton and quickly scales the cavern wall, moving with unnaturally swiftness to the opening Akio pointed out. She braces herself just inside the entrance to wait for the others.

xxxxxRhapsody eyes the opening that Akio has pointed out. With Irsa going up there ahead of her, and is a champ. With a deep breath and a bit of stretching, Rhapsody goes for it and up the wall. She is far slower than Irsa, but thankfully she does NOT die! WHEEE!! Maybe she can learn something, and once she is up she asks Irsa, "What is your secret to such good climbing?"

xxxxxAkio watches the others go then looks to Iris and Branton before they get a nod and he climbs. Making his way up with the rope provided by Branton and secured by Irsa it's much easier than it would have been to climb without. Once he's made it up he looks around then helps to brace the rope for the last of their party to climb up.

xxxxxBranton grips the rope tight and braces his feet on the wall going up hand over hand, its a little tricky to balance with the two packs hanging off his back but he manages it eventually.

xxxxxThe tunnel isn't small, but it ain't huge either. There's certainly some jokes to be made about sniffing each other's butts as the gang gets up into the tunnel and crawls through it, but now is not the time! It's a bit of a crawl, and it's absolutely pitch black. Mercy will pass along a little candle up to Irsa, who's in the front of the pack now so she can see where she's going. There's sharp rocks to avoid stabbing into your knee, and a lumpy ceiling to avoid smacking your head into, but all in all it's pretty tame as far as tunnels go. Mercy does NOT say it out loud, but she's KINDA worried about whether they're in the right sort of tunnel, hoping against hope that she's not literally feeding herself and her friends to some weird fuckin Abyssal eel or something that just LOOKED like a tunnel. That'd be super fuckin awkward to explain to the Ancestors.
xxxxxIt's not an eel though, don't worry. The tunnel begins to slope upwards at a gentle angle, and soon it releases the gang out into the open. Like the OPEN open, not the Abyss open. And holy shit, it's so... weird here. Even at first glance it's easy to tell that this is not a planet, there's no gentle curvature on the horizon, the star dotted sky over head spins much quicker than the night sky of earth. There are no clouds, no moon, no weather of any kind as the group climbs out of a rough hole in the middle of a wide river bed. It's cracked and dry and empty, but the world around them is no longer silent and quite so dark. There are hundreds, THOUSANDS of waterways around them in mild, short grassed plane that stretches as far as the eye can see. tiny streams, rushing rivers, and everything in between. There's the soft, distant babble of millions of tiny voices, laughter and shouts, singing and chanting. It's all impossible to understand, but it's identifiable as language. In the distance the occasional life form can be seen, made up of jumbles of letters and numbers and symbols.

xxxxxMercy makes sure Irsa belts back up on the safety line, then digs in her pack for a map. "Everyone be cool, have a sip, have a sammich, I gotta figure out what direction we're going. Just a sec."

xxxxxIrsa grins at Rhapsody. "Get your hands in th' crevices like this. Even a small one'll hold if ya get a solid one. It's all leverage an' knowing how to shift your weight. We can go climbin' later an' I'll show ya. Besides that, though? Go track down a monkey gaffling an' bribe it to teach this gift to ya. One I found was near th' exotic animal rescue. The little bastard wanted t' have a shit-throwin' contest." She pauses and adds, "Ya ever tried to wash that kinda Umbral stink off your hands? Do not recommend." And then of course, the scene changes, and they're not in Abyssal Kansas anymore. This is wild, ya'll. She passes on the sandwich break, having unfun memories about that event, and sticks to drinking water.

xxxxxRhapsody has heard of monkey flinging crap, but hearing it from Irsa? She tries not to burst out laughing lest this tunnel collapse or something! Oy! She follows in the trail of them all through the tunnel at a respectable distance to not be knocking her head into the person ahead of her. Once they are out, she takes the offered water and has a sip. "Every turn, a new adventure it seems. Do you hear all that? Woah.. what.. what is that? Are we in Sesame street?"

xxxxxAkio doesn't pass on the sandwich break or the water. Instead, he accepts both with a smile and a nod of thanks before exploring their surroundings with his gaze. "This place is a trip..." Trailing off he looks to make sure Branton doesn't need any help with all that gear he has too.

xxxxxBranton takes his back pack off and sets his things down to take a break from the weight since they aren't in the Abyss any more. He grins and nods at Akio, holding up his left arm and tapping on the tooled leather bracer "Armbands of Hercules. Makes me strong enough to arm wrestle a garou in war form if I gotta. Also strong enough to stab a black spiral through the brain with my rapier when he tries to grab my spine through my belly button." Branton does take a moment to look around too as he gets himself a sandwhich "World walking never gets old."

xxxxxMercy's map is super weird and changes itself all over the paper its on, until eventually producing a nice red X to show their destination. "Okay! Got it, we're goin this way, folks." She stands up, hoists her pack, and then digs String out of her dreadlocks. "You have to stay here. Dont! Move! Okay? PLEASE stay here." Oh god, their return trip relies on String not getting distracted and wandering off, WE'RE DOOMED! Mercy makes sure everyone's ready and starts off across the plains. "So there's some short rules about this place. First of all, don't piss off the residents or you'll go home with aphasia. Second, don't drink any of the waters except what we're specifically after or what's in the canteen, or you'll go a little nuts and possibly also piss off the residents. We're guests, so let's be good guests and not mess anything up."

xxxxxIrsa eyes the area a bit nervously as she listens to all these warnings. It's just like when she was a kid, and listening to her momma warn her not to touch shit in the store unless no one was looking. No wait, that was completely different. She touches -nothing- as she trudges along.

xxxxxRhapsody gives a two fingered salute toward Iris. "Roger that. No eat, no drink, be kind, rewind." She's got it all down. She looks back to String to see if he's making any more lewd designs or what, but then back to following Iris and checking at times Irsa, Akio, and Branton are still with the group.

xxxxxAkio grins at Branton and nods, "Too cool." Laughing softly he makes sure not to be too loud as he turns his attention to the map and watches as it shifts and changes until that red X shows up. Nodding at Mercy he then turns to the others and eyes String the most. "Got it. We'll all keep each other on the straight and narrow." With that he moves with the group.

xxxxxBranton nods as he gets his packs back on and situated, explaining "I bought the backpack off the shelf but I had to reinforce it and design the extra strap configurations because I could carry more than it could stand. Run into problems with bulk before I run into problems with weight."

xxxxxThere are no familiar constellations moving across the too rapidly spinning twilight sky, there are no mountains or hills, no weather, no shift in a day or night cycle, all those things that the group is used to are concepts that don't have a place in this particular part of this particular realm. For all intents and purposes, they're traveling on a patch of land that just floats aimlessly within the world of the Mind. Passing one stream, familiar French words can be heard coming from dozens of conversations mixed together in the rushing waters. From another, something that sounds Russian. From yet another are the yowls and hisses of cat folk. Literally every living language can be heard here when passing their respective waterways as the group travels.

xxxxxTheir path isn't a straight line either, there's detours that have to be made to get across larger waterways, and maybe a skip and a jump across stones jutting from the waters, but these are not dangerous moments. In these streams there is the nuance of the language. There's slow, circular eddies of sayings that never change, there's a rocky babble where slang bubbles and froths, and the smoother, deep currents of the classical form of whatever language. Some of these waterways are barely more than trickles, some tiny language known only to a single tribe somewhere in the world.

xxxxx"Alright, so here's the deal." Mercy says, speaking to Akio directly, "If you want to learn the language, you need to ask politely, don't just plop down and start chugging. You need to offer an exchange, a verbal thing you're willing to sacrifice. I'd suggest a song or a poem or something small that you enjoy. You'll lose it from your memory, but you can always relearn it later. Try not to offer something you cant live without, or that you cant pick up again later, keep it small, but meaningful. It's a sacrifice after all. Think it up quick, we'll be there in two shakes of a fox's tail."

xxxxxIrsa is rubber-necking like the complete and utter Realm-hopping n00b she is. How many Cliaths get to travel through a highly-dangerous realm of loss and utter darkness, visit a garden of sad extinct plants, and get to climb walls like a squirrel before reaching Language Lab? Not many, that's for sure! She looks happier than a Bonegnawer cub that found an entire hot, fresh pizza with all the toppings in a nice clean dumpster. "This place is wild," she mutters to Rhapsody. "Think they got th' language everyone says is on th' Rosetta stone here?"

xxxxxRhapsody considers all that Iris has told them. What can she sacrifice? What can she offer. She thinks about it, and only one thing comes to mind. She then shrugs to Irsa as she mutters to her. "No clue, but considering everything so far? I wouldn't be surprised if they did."

xxxxxAkio follows with the group and nods to Iris. "Yeah. I get it..." Trailing off he lets his amber gaze slide from her to the rest of the group. Thinking over that thing he isn't worried about giving up he looks to Branton and smiles as he talks of his backpack. Looking to Irsa and Rhapsody once more he says softly to Iris. "I got it... I'm ready."

xxxxxBranton grins at how excited everyone's getting and looks around again, just soaking it all in "This place is just so remarkable."

xxxxxMercy points out a strong, deep flowing little river that they're walking towards. It's not exceptionally wide, but it's deep with age. "Garou." she says, and the snarling, wuffing speech of the Garou can be heard there.

xxxxxThere's very few rocks, not a lot of slang, many eddies of unchanging sayings, and it's nearly all smooth, classical current. The bed in which it flows used to be much wider than it is now, a testament to the species falling numbers, but it's not in danger of drying up soon.
xxxxxThere's one of those wriggling forms made of written language here, and it swirls towards the group, spreading itself out a bit to be intimidating, uttering sounds that are parts of many words from many languages.

xxxxxMercy gives Akio's shoulder a reassuring squeeze and the lightest nudge forward as if to say 'you're on, buddy!' while she steps back to be with the group. She only looks a LITTLE worried this might not work out well. Just a little.

xxxxxIrsa gives Akio a thumbs-up and grins. "Ya got this, Akio. We got yer back."

xxxxxRhapsody gives the double thumbs-up, a smile and a wink. "Go for it! We know you can do it!"

xxxxxBranton nods as he listens but for his own part remains quiet to see what the spirit thinks.

xxxxxAkio nods to Mercy then gives a thumbs-up to Branton, Irsa and Rhapsody. Moving to the edge of the flowing river he kneels beside it and thinks through what he hears. There is a soft nod of his head as he speaks softly. Offering up something that may seem small but to him it was always a favored haiku his mother said his father would recite to her. So while short it is sweet and very dear to him as a memory and an idea. Something of value in this trade. It's first said in his native tongue:
xxxxxNizi tachite/ Tachimachi kimi no/ Aru gotoshi.
xxxxxThe rainbow stands./As if you are here./In a moment.

With that said he gives a little bow to the river as his offering is made.

xxxxxThe wriggling creature of language and symbol deflates, no longer trying to be intimidating as it wavers before the Kitsune. It seems more... Curious, in its movements, sliding to and fro as if in rhythm with the haiku. It drinks the words in as Akio speaks them, flavored with the emotion the poem inspires within him. It's not inaccurate to say that the spirit eats the words away as they come from Akio, and once he's finished speaking it, the knowledge of those words fade from his mind. He knows there was a favorite haiku his father used to recite to his mother, but he cant remember how it goes. The spirit then moves away, satisfied, to swirl across the plains of language, leaving the word 'yes' stamped into the ground in Akio's first language, an answer to his desire to drink. When he DOES drink, the water *feels* like water, but it sounds like language. It doesn't taste like language, it doesn't taste like anything at all really.

xxxxxIrsa watches the entire process with baited breath, praying the spirit accepts her potential pack-mate's chiminage. She begins to shift now, bulking into her Crinos form so she can speak in the Mother's Tongue. << Can you understand me, Eclipsing-Shadow? If so, tell us a joke. >>

xxxxxRhapsody watches as Akio makes the offer. As Irsa offers to speak in Garou to Akio, she holds to see if he understands.

xxxxxAkio wipes a bit of a tear at that initial memory even if he's in a weird spot where the memory of that poem from his dead father is no longer really remembered. Shaking his head he grits his teeth at the wash of knowledge that floods his consciousness like a river overflowing and filling his mind as he drinks from a cupped palm from the river. It's a strange feeling and when he hears the question he knows it's in Garou and he can understand it, for now. Looking back he replies in the same tongue << I only seem to get sick on weekdays... I must have a weekend immune system. >>

xxxxxBranton snickers at Akio's joke "A plus pun my dude. I dig it." glancing to Iris "He'll def fit in here just fine."

xxxxxMercy blurts out a laugh and then slaps a hand over her mouth, "Oh wow, dad jokes are just great." she says with a grin. "Okay, new set of information for everyone. That knowledge isn't going to last, okay? It's *very* temporary, meaning you have to practice your *ass* off if you want to commit the borrowed knowledge to your actual memory. I seriously suggest communicating in nothing *but* Garou for a while, and as much as you possibly can do it. Akio still has to *learn* the language, okay? Still requires practice, all this did was give you a much bigger pallet of things to practice *with*. Don't any of you dare make this a wasted trip, the man just sacrificed something that meant a lot to him, so don't let that go to waste. Now let's get the back home before we go batty in here. We're gonna stick with one language, I don't want Akio's mind to fracture or anything by double pumping it, and Lupus will be fairly easyish to pick up any how since he's closely related." She waves a hand and starts them quickly back the way they came!

xxxxxIrsa growls a Crinos laugh, and picks up up Akio to give him a huge furry hug. Thank Gaia she knows her own strength. << That was a great joke! How did it feel, was it really strange?>> She sets the kitsune down, looking extremely proud of him.

xxxxxRhapsody has to laugh and gives him a pat on the back while Irsa wolf hugs him. "Wonderful! Now we are on the same page..er.. tongue. How great!" She is glad for this trip and that they were able to accomplish the goal.

xxxxxEclipsing-Tempest shifts into his koto form, half-man/half-fox just as Irsa grabs him. A high pitched fox laugh is given back to them all and he says << Thank you, thank you all. It was weird. Really weird. I could feel it filling my mind with EVERYTHING in the language but also it was like smoke. I can feel it... already dissipating. So yes. I'll be talking all the time to you in garou until I know this. >> Turning he bows to Mercy in thanks, << This was a wonderful thing you've done. Thank you. >>

xxxxxBranton grins at Akio as he follows along with the group, taking up his anchor position on the end of the line again he adds, in a badly accented homid version of garou >>Should try speak more to him in. So can listen also.<<

xxxxx"Psh, aw man, you're my buddy, you all are, and I wanna help make sure you're happy and successful as a pack family!" Mercy says, returning the bow. She doesn't need the map to get back to where they were, she knows exactly where String is at no matter how far away they are and can lead them to it unerringly.

xxxxxOver small rivers, across streams, past the more massive Mississippi-like rivers of English, Hindi, Chinese, and other massively spoken languages. Eventually they return to where String wiggles and hovers around the dead language stream bed they crawled up through. There's others they could have taken, but who knows where exactly those let out? Best to use the one they definitely know. Down the rope, through the garden of extinct Naturae, caaaaaaarefully along the skinny drop hazard path of soil, switch backing up and up and up.
xxxxxFrom somewhere deep, deep down in the Abyss drift the ragged howls of mad Dancers on some fell adventure of their own, but they're too distant to be a threat to the group. They are a good reminder of the horrors that lurk in the depths of this bottomless chasm of loss, though. The light of the umbral sky grows brighter as they ascend, until finally they're crawling up over the side and into the umbral desert once more, able to move away from the chasm and feel... safe. Holy shit, how long since they felt *safe*?? The MOMENT Mercy has taken inventory, made sure all Cliaths, Mates, and Familiars are accounted for, she opens a moonbridge to GTFO like right god damned now. This sorta place does not jive with her vibe!

---

From here, our heroes returned to Prospect, heading first to the Kinfolk house to use their Cleansing showers for a 'just in case' rinse, and then to the Caern for victory pie.