Amethyst/Introduction

Hurricanes.

It's what her major was all about, right? Climate science. Amethyst had to successfully graduate to inherit her parent's fortune, those were the terms set forth by the will of her father and mother. She had left in the September of 2017, making sporadic trips home when she could. Hurricane Irma. Hurricane Michael. Hurricane Florence. Dozens of tropical storms and lesser hurricanes. It was a never-ending barrage. Then there were the data archives! Asheville, North Carolina was a treasure-trove of data. Every bit and byte she could grab, she did. Perhaps she could find a pattern in all of it? Hundreds of hours she spent, delving into the data, and researching on many levels. The more she learned, the more dread filled her heart. It had to be a Wyrm plot, at its core. Everything she read, everything she experienced in the field, pointed to it. To heat up the world, force more hurricanes, which in turn spread taint and destruction. She had no idea how she alone could stop it, but absolutely, what she learned had to be taken back to the cairn, or her father's cairn. It was a problem bigger than just a Dreamspeaker or Virtual Adept could handle. Cleansing corruption was the Garou's specialty. Even if they couldn't fix it right away, the knowledge would be valuable beyond just her degree and her studies.

Furio, her beloved Furio... he was oddly silent -- for Virtual Adepts, he was always just a blink or a message away, but she noted.. he hadn't answered anything from her for months. When she visited home previously, he wasn't there, but his lab and study still were. Amethyst couldn't shake the sense that something was wrong, but tried to shrug it off. It was probably just anxiety and Taint clinging to her.

-You need a cleansing, as soon as we are home.- Firebird noted in the back of her mind, ever-present even in her most subconscious of thoughts.

I know. I know. The grossness of Florence was horrible.. Michael was no better.. the girl thought back to her Totem and companion. She nodded while thinking, picking up her luggage, and fetching her ride out of storage. Few graduate students had the luxury of funding their own field research, sparing no expense. Amethyst was keenly aware of such. The ride home was a relief, and the girl felt a burden lifted off her shoulders simply approaching her manor. Something was off, though -- the crowd of spirits usually at her home, were oddly absent. Maybe it’s just because I’ve been gone.. She walked in, and the lights ticked on obediently.

“Welcome home!” her house’s AI chimed cheerfully.

“Hey, thanks, CID. Where’s Furio?” The silence was deafening. She could hear her heart beat in her chest. One beat. Two beat. Three beats. The lights all flickered in the house simultaneously, a thing that should not happen with her power backups in place, and a hologram appeared in the kitchen of her all-too familiar fiance, summoned by her voice and his name. Arms crossed, chomping on a cigar, pacing in her kitchen. The image flickered, broken, lines of code running down the image. Even the vocal part of the message was broken.

“You ….Leave…sorry…love..Woman…Brother…cairn...Home...Kiddo….Goodbye.” And his image vanished, as he dropped the cigar.

No, no, NO. Amethyst waved a hand, summoning the holographic console, fingers flying across the keyboard of light furiously. Corrupted data. CORRUPTED FILE. Here, in her own home!? NO. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon.” She wasn't just a Virtual Adept by chance, surely she could untangle the fragments, fix the pieces. It was far more complicated a file than a simple JPEG, regrettably, no matter what process she ran.

“Ame, this is the best we can do,” her AI informed her, with artificial gentleness. “It is corrupted. We should delete it before it corrupts the mainframe, something is wrong with the file.”

Head bowed, tear spilled from Amethyst’s eyes. She waved a hand, sending out a sensor to try to find Furio. Any Adept worth their salt could do it. Emptiness returned to her senses. Right …. A Master Adept, if he didn’t want to be found, he wouldn’t be. She looked down to the ring on her hand. When had the signal to it stopped? More tears fell. She was an awful person for not noticing. She walked into his wing of the manor -- it was empty. Dust was gathered. He had been gone for months, it looked like.

From the Unseen world, Firebird materialized beside her, and covered her back with a wing in comfort. -Cleansing. Go, child, before grief and Taint grows something ugly. Answers will come, I am always with you.-