2023.03.07 Introductions to Sergei and the Frog Brothers

03.07.23 Introductions to Sergei and the Frog Brothers
Trey seeks out Sergei, meets him and his family, and encounters the Frog Brothers pack as a bonus!
IC Date	03.07.23
Players	Jack, Mike, Sergei, Trey
Location	Sept of the Enduring Spirit
Spheres	Bastet, Garou, Shifter

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.

                     >>> Must read before RP: +info <<<                      

Sergei is a hard man. Not overly large or bulky but not an ounce of spare flesh on him. Angular eurasian features contrasted by Golden blonde hair and Ice Blue eyes. He's dressed simply in blue jeans, a flannel shirt, and steel toed work boots. (Animal Musk, PB 5 (Wendigo))

Sergei is sitting, in homid form, by the fire pit as he picks bits of some sort of raw red meat out of a bowl and hand feeds them to a VERY PREGNANT looking she-wolf. The two of them are accompanied by a number of yearling cubs, cuddling the she-wolf and sniffing at her.

Trey comes into the caern proper, looking around him as he steps, offering greetings to familiar faces. He's directed to Sergei after asking, and the bejeaned Bastet saunters toward the firepit where the Elder Wendigo, the she-wolf, and the cubs are, but he doesn't step too close just yet, not wanting to intrude too close without permission. He smiles at the sight of the young, though -- even he's got a soft spot for cubs. "Is this a bad time?"

The Yearlings stumble all over themselves to try and array between the stranger and their mother. Yipping with adorable fierceness until Sergei says a single word. The cubs fidget but stop as Sergei says, "Not really, My mate wanted to take advantage of me having a form with thumbs." The she-wolf nudges Sergei with her nose and huffs at him then he translates "She says that as long as she gets fed its fine. She needs my thumbs not my speaking parts."

Trey smiles at the cubs but doesn't show teeth -- he's always careful, especially around the little ones, not to show anything that could be mistaken for a threat. "Oh, I won't need anything but words," he says, and he looks to the she-wolf, "Thank you." He figures she understands just fine. He picks a spot to crouch and settle onto a rock, then says, "I'm Trey Treads-on-Thin-Ice, Bastet born on four paws to the Qualmi tribe. I was told I could come to you to offer help with patrols. Since I was welcomed here, I wanted to contribute to upkeep, and I'm a pretty good scout." The warder passes on patrol carrying a clothing iron at the end of a steel chain.

The cubs don't understand but the She-wolf seems to, at least a bit, and once thanked she goes back to her snacks and scritches. Thumbs really are the best. Sergei, for his part, nods at Trey "That's good. I'm sure one or another of the patrol groups will have a scout opening. We'll get you on the schedule." One of the yearlings gives a whine and Sergei sighs the sigh of a beleaguered parent of any species, before translates "They want to sniff you hello. If you're not to be a stranger they insist it is proper. You can say no."

Trey nods agreement and says, "Great! Oh, I should let you know, I have a Healing gift, so if you need someone for that purpose in a group, I can do that." He looks pleased at being able to contribute, and probably to learn as well. As sergei explains about the cubs, Trey laughs and spreads his hands in an open, loose gesture. "As long as you are okay with it, I'm fine with them getting my scent. It's good practice for them, right?"

Sergei nods at Trey as he dutifully continues feeding the She-wolf when prompted before giving a growl for the cubs to go ahead "Yes. That will help, though while Healing gifts are traditionally a theurge role it is among the trainings encouraged broadly. Basic first aid and mundane wound care at least." The cubs for their part go slow but they creep over to Trey to give excited snuffles and their tails are waggging excitedly.

Trey nods slowly. "Bastet do it a little differently, so I'm not sure if I can teach it, but learning the mundane methods is also useful. I'm one of those people who believes in learning as much as I can that's useful." As the cubs approach, Trey watches them with an easy calm, watching them being adorable. They're large enough that all four together could probably put a hurt on him, were he in breedform, but they're not hunting, they're greeting. "Hello, little ones," he says with warmth.

Jack has arrived. Mike has arrived.

Sergei is feeding a VERY pregnant she-wolf from a bowl of bits of raw red meat while he watches four yearling cubs approach and begin to snuffle at Trey in greeting as the human form conversation continues "Personally I know a few gifts to amplify my self healing abilities as a personal priority but I see the sense in it."

Trey watches the yearling cubs as they sniff, seeming to be at ease in his usual way. He comes off as pretty calm for a shifter, and the young ones probably don't find him as intimidating as others they've encountered. "It's always good to have another option just in case your energies are depleted," he agrees.

Crashing the party at the caern this afternoon is Mike and Jack, blundering out of the cavern forest and into the meadow. The latter is all bundled up in sweat pants and a turtle neck over his usual get up, never mind the shorts and teeshirt mentioned in the desc, cause it's mufuckin cold lately, dawg. Still wearing the flip flops, though. In shades of greys and purples, he looks like a slightly moldy grape that's feeling very optimistic about its future. They've got backpacks and hand bags and all sorts of shit that the city boys have drug along with them for whatever weird reason, and Jack's in the middle of having a minor melt down over "No, cause like they didn't even fuckin explain the numbers, or the hatch, or the foot with all the toes, or anything! That guy is blowing smoke up the collective asses of everyone, they were literally making it up as they went! Which sucks because that was a fuckin *great* show. Except for when it wasn't." And there's people! And wolves! "HI!" he blurts at folk he don't know, nice and loud so they can’t be missed. Except on purpose.

The warder passes on patrol carrying a clothing iron at the end of a steel chain.

Mike skids after Jack, temporarily losing his footing on a damp patch of ground. He meant to do that, totally. He clears his throat loudly and bobs his head in time to some music only he can hear as he listens to his TOTALLY AWESOME bro. "I dunno, man. You know some suit's gonna revive it in like, five years and COMPLETELY fuck it up. Make it like, some Grey's Anatomy knock-off or something." He skids to a halt (again!) and stares at the scene before him. "Holy shit, dude. WOLVES!" he blurts out.

Sergei nods at Trey "Its why I've studied so many different ways to fight. Having options is important." Then at the arrival of others he waves with his free hand "Yes. My mate and cubs. They will likely be sniffing you shortly." For now though all four of the yearlings seem to be occupied with sniffing at and rubbing against Trey.

The cubs are speaking though, in the fashion of wolves >papa, why does he smell not-quite-scared?<

Trey lifts his gaze, turning to regard the new arrivals as they enter. He huhs and as one of them (Jack) comments about the foot and the toes, he tries not to look puzzled, and fails, mostly. "Hi!," he counters amiably, from where he is talking to Sergei and being sniffed and rubbed by a quartet of yearling cubs. "Yep, a whole bunch of 'em," he agrees with the exclamation. "And one cat, though I don't look like one right now." He takes the moment to reach out and scritch the cubs behind the ears and under the chins, murmuring, "And you are the cutest little ferocious predators ever, aren't you? Yes, you're such precious little alpha predators..."

"Never underestimate the corporate power to screw literally everything up to the worst possible level. So, yeah, you're probably right. Siiiiiigh." Jack dramatically sides with Mike on this one, but the drama doesn't overshadow the 'omg wolves!'. You'd think they were humans or something, but it probably has to do with: "Sup, dudes! I'm Jack Morrison, aka LevelUp, cliath homid at your service! This is my brother Mike Morrison, For The Win, cliath metis. Both Ragabash, both Glass Walkers, both *badass* Frog Brothers." He thunks some of the crap he's carrying onto the ground at his feet, but he's got eyes only for puppies. "Yeah, cat bro!" he greets Trey with an offer of a high five.

"Suits, man," Mike agrees. He shuffles sideways a bit, maybe trying to get some distance between him and huge-ass wolves or maybe trying to get a better view from another angle. Who knows? "Um, hi! Jack's my big brother. The BEST big brother!" he insists. He drops his bags on the ground and winces a bit as something inside makes a small shattering sound.

Sergei is still sitting there but instead of feeding the she-wolf he's giving scritches. Trey's comment gets a chuckle "They wouldn't hurt a guest of the sept on purpose." And to the two Brothers he says "I am Sergei Ivanov of human name. Among the Nation I am Howling-Wind, son of Bloody-Snow, son of Blood-on-the-Wind. Wolf-born Ahroun of Great Wendigo's people at the Sept of the Siberian Wilds. I am now Patrol Captain of the Sept of Enduring Spirit in service to Great Wendigo and the Nation as an Elder. This is Starbreeze, my mate."

Trey raises a hand amidst squirming puppies (albeit 'puppies' that outweigh Trey's breed form by a factor of at least 2) for the high-five and grins. The other hand is still petting pups, of course. Once you get started, it's hard to stop. Also hard not to be in a good mood when you encounter people who are clearly the cheerful sort. "Good to meet you both. I'm Trey Treads-on-Thin-Ice, born on four feet to the Qualmi tribe, the tribe of the Lynx, ranked Tekhmet. Which is the Bastet version of Cliath." He winces at the breaking sound. "Hope that wasn't anything important." He ohhs at Sergei's introduction, having known he was Wendigo and an elder, but not the ritename. Knowing that he's wolf-born seems to explain a lot to the cat, as well. "Siberia.. that's a long way off. I was born near the Canadian border in the Seneca region of New York, and I thought I'd come a long way."

Jack snooooorts a laugh at Mike when he hears the breaking, and says, "Nice." But he's being entirely friendly about it, there's no snideness at all. Flomping his pudgy ass down with an oof, he stretches his legs out in front of him and, once he's shed the pack on his back, leans back on his hands. "Cat words! Heck yeah, we learned something new today!" Cheerful is certainly one way of describing Jack, he wears his Optimist nature on his sleeve. "Damn, that *is* far away," he says with some awe to Sergei, "And that's pretty far too!" to Trey, "We're from Kickapoo, Missouri, the least far away. Hey, I think we were supposed to see you for something, Howling Wind-rhya."

Mike sulks as he gingerly inspects the inside of his pack. "Aw, man. My brand new beaker!" He shakes his bag at Jack and mopes as he sets it back down. "Least it wasn't my lucky Erlenmeyer flask, that would've sucked." His jaw nearly drops open when Sergei and Trey introduce themselves. "Oh. Um... sorry! Our totem hates winter, Like, a lot. He just tucks his feet under himself and goes all round and sleepy and stuff." Surely this makes sense in Garou circles. "A lynx! For real? Oh wow! I've only seen lynxes on TV, ever!" He does a little celebratory dance in the snow, throwing up his fist in victory at the end. "Can you... I mean, um. Do you mind?" he asks, shy all of a sudden.

Sergei nods at the mention of distance he's come "Yes, its was a very long journey. I do like it here." At the mention of the totem's aversion to cold Sergei just grins "Hibernation is a very valid response to winter. Not all are as blessed as the Wendigo in our ability to handle the ice and snow." At the not quite mention of shifting Sergei looks to Trey and makes as if to call the Cubs back if he wants.

Trey smiles slyly at the exuberant exclamation over 'cat words,' knowing he's no less enthusiastic when he's learning something new and cool. Already there's common ground. He probably sounded the same when learning how to speak to spirits. "Yeah, it's a long trip, I made a lot of stops along the way, though. Some time in Florida, other places between there and Denver where I was for like half a year... then wandered a few months till I got here." His head tilts to one side. "Your totem... Frog, which is why you're the Frog Brothers?" At Sergei's look, he nods, and says, "The little ones are fine but I'm a lot smaller as a lynx, so maybe just ask them to give me a little room, please?" He gives each of the cubs a final earscritch, though, before standing up, and shifting down to his breedform.

Canadian Lynx(#4222PXc)

Four paws and whiskers A coat of grey, black, brown, white Tufted ears -- a lynx This lynx is a big fella for his type, probably weighing in around 40lb or so on a frame the size of a Labrador, though much leaner. His thick, coarsely-soft fur is patterned in black, grey, and brown on snow-white, and his green-gold eyes are canny, constantly moving to take in the world. There's a cunning in the expression on his whiskered face that seems atypical and not at all animal, but it would be a mistake to assume he's a floofy friend. Concealed in his fur, weirdly, is a leather braid around his neck and a copper circle around one forelimb. He doesn't seem to have any marks or scars of note. He's not wearing clothes. Lynxes don't. There is intelligence in those eyes, but it's hard to tell much more about his mood than that, except that he's not attacking anyone at the moment, so his mood must be relatively even.

Jack nods sagely to Sergei in agreement with Mike's VERY scientific explanation about frogs and winter. "Thanks, man!" he says to the lupus when their excuse is, well, excused. "We'll be making up for some lost time though, soon!" He nods enthusiastically at Trey's question, "Yeah, Frog and us, we'd been hangin' out for ages, kinda, so it seemed natural. And now we have a really good excuse for getting in to pond-making. Nah nah, it's not cause we want to dig holes and play in the mud, it's for our *totem*!" But frogs and patrols, all that can just take a back seat cause "Ohmygod! Lookit your *ears*!" he blurts with absolute delight over an actual real life lynx a few feet away from him. There's a twitch, but he does NOT rudely reach out to try and pet the Bastet. Manners, he has them! But he does grab Mike and shake him mercilessly in his excitement.

Mike lets out a completely undignified squeak as he's shaken and an even louder schoolboy squeal of delight when the lynxh appears. "Oh, oh! Um... birth form! Mom told us we gotta show ours when someone shows theirs. Hold on!" The speed of his change is astonishing and quick when it happens, but hey! He's a metis. >> Soft fur ears, << he rumbles wistfully at his brother. >> I want ears that soft. <<

Holy shit, it's a fucking werewolf. It's like, almost nine feet tall and super gangly, got a lupine head filled with razor sharp teeth, and long grabby arms armed with scissors-edged claws. Don't run with those dude, you'll put an eye out! It has brown and gray fur, light brown eyes, and the toothiest maw ever.

Oh right, and the Delirium's also in place. Fly, you fools!

Sergei grins and calls the cubs back and they whine in objection but they do obey. The yearlings are SUPER interested and want to play with the FLOOF so very badly. But then there is a Crinos and the pups yip loudly and go to put their parents between themselves and the warform. Sergei does not look upset at Mike, he reaches back to offer reassuring pats before explaining "They're just doing what they've been told."

Canadian Lynx doesn't seem to object to being petted, if it's desired. He's a rather handsome lynx, even if he is small compared to a wolf. He tilts his head back and forth, showing off the ears, and then looks up-up-up to when Mike shifts into his Crinos breedform. Wow, that's a loooong way up. He grins toothily -- or at least that what it looks like, anyway -- and looks pleased and proud at the exclamation about how awesomely soft his ears are. When he turns to look at the yearlings, he tries not to move too much, because he has a feeling he would then wind up being the Best Squeaky Toy EVER for the young ones. They then run from the warform Mike shifts into, and Trey sits on his haunches, just pleased. Of course, he also can't speak Wolf, so he flows out of FLOOF back into manshape. "Sorry, but I can't speak Wolf and you can't speak Cat, so I figured this was better."

For the Win flattens his ears against his skull, just totally embarrassed as he shrinks back down to his homid form. "Sorry, sorry! I've never seen wolf pups or lynxes or.. or anything wild, really. Um, they didn't let me out until after I Firsted. The sept, I mean." He ducks his head and grins a bit at Trey. "That's so cool, man. Wolf and lynx shifters? Gaia is fucking awesome. Oh! Do you like swimming?" he asks out of nowhere.

Check it out! This wolf-like thing just turned into a dude, whaaaaat?

The cubs allow themselves to be shooed back out from behind Sergei and his mate, who didn't so much as twitch during the whole exchange, Sergei nods at Trey "A fair point." Then to Mike he adds "It’s alright, they aren't actually frightened. I've just told them what to do in some situations, though mostly the situations are different and the action 'hide behind papa' is always the same."

Trey waves his hand toward Mike with an easy smile. "No need to be embarrassed. Now I recognize your warform, is all. And yeah, that's what usually happens, huh? I mean, staying in the caern when you're Metis, right? But... well, there's no lynx around here, the climate's too warm. You get bobcats, which are close, but not the same. Smaller, less fluffy." The next part brings a thoughtful look to his face. "Gaia is absolutely awesome, yeah. I mean, look at all the different places she gave us, all different, each with its own beauty. And, well... most cats don't like swimming, but I do. I learned how to fish in cold water, so the water here is great, nice and warm." Trey nods and says, "Which is the smart place to be if there's a threat. Keep close together to avoid getting lost or cornered, and let the alpha deal with the problem." He pauses to fish in his pack and asks, "Are they allowed a little venison jerky as a treat?" He won't bring it out until he's sure it's okay, of course.

Jack puts exactly zero effort into showing off his breed form, mainly because he's already in it. Booooriiiiing. But he is TOTALLY gonna touch the lynx. Like, just a little bit. Maybe a little more than a little bit, because holy crap that's some softass, thickass fur. "You're a good dad." he tells Sergei while he reaches out to pat Mike's leg, "Our dad sucks, but you seem to be doin pretty good!" He also waits to hear the answer to Trey's question. He's a teenager, he dunno nothin' about nothin'.

"Right? Nature's the best thing EVER. Me, I couldn't wait to go outside and start digging around in the mud and seeing all the stuff everywhere." Mike spills all that out in a rush. "We totally gotta take you surfing, I bet you'd kick ass at it. Hang ten easy with those feet!" He mimes overly-sized lynx paws. "Oh, HIM," he says as their father is brought up. "Yeah, he won't win Dad awards. But who cares! We've got the BEST MOM IN THE WORLD."

The she-wolf knows some human words, and when one of them is mentioned, she looks right at Trey. And then she looks to her mate and he nods and says to Trey "Starbreeze wants some too." At the mention of water fun he says "A number of sept members and allies have water side territories."

Trey says, "I felt the same way once I found out how many different kinds of places there were. I just wanted to see them all. First time I saw a beach was in Florida. Still love the water to this day." He blinks. "Surfing? In Lynx..." He stops. Suddenly, it seems more like 'fun stuff to try' than 'what the hell?' and he laughs. "I'd give it a try, why not?" As Starbreeze vocalizes, Trey knows he's going to be sharing more of the jerky, and he draws out a pouch of decent size, fishing out bacon-sized strips, giving the first to the pregnant wolf bitch, and then offering each of the cubs a half-strip. He holds out two more to Sergei for Starbreeze's delectation, and then passes the pouch around to the Garou as well. Pregnant females eat first, of course. "I've seen the beach on the island, it's beautiful. Peaceful, too, though I was warmed about dragon ladies."

"We found the island too!" Jack beams happily at Trey, "We actually live like half a block from the ferry that goes over there, little bungalow with a frog on the door, can’t miss it! Come by for beers and amphibolympics some time. You too!" he says, making sure Sergei knows the invitation is open to him as well. "We've been revisiting some spots for that kinda thing recently, there's some nice Garou that want some work done at their territories, so we've been trying to soak up the inspirational vibes, checkin out rock and plant samples and stuff." He's not gonna turn down free snacks, of course, taking the pouch with a "Thanks!" and making sure Mike gets some before he finds a strip for himself before that gets back to Trey.

"Yeeeess!" Mike leans over and slaps Jack's hand way up top, then tries the same move on Trey. "Dude, we gotta get you out there. I bet you're a natural." He eyes the jerky curiously and is more than happy to gnaw on a piece. "Thanks. Um.. Jack? Who all are we doing things for?" he asks. "Um.. and for patrols and stuff, how do they work?" he asks Sergei. "I've never been."

Sergei nods in gratitude and takes the offered meat on his mate's behalf, watching as she gnaws on the jerky and then chuckling as the yearlings loose their collective shit. Rolling around, gnawing aggressively on the dried meat, and to those who know wolf body language, having a grand time. Nodding to Trey "I've heard Cypha is actually friendly, but she can be quite startling to meet. Depending on what form she's in." Then to Mike he says "The territory around the caern is divided into quarters. And each is patrolled by a group of four to six members with a Garou of Fostern to Athro rank in charge. Sometimes Elders will take a shift but that's not usually scheduled. A shift is six hours long and its hoped that most Garou will take two shifts out of every forty eight hour span. Though more is better but no more than a double before taking at least one off."

Trey ohs and says, "That's a good location to live... being that close to the water is nice. Sure, I'd love to stop by sometime, why not? Oh, you do plants -- I mean, gardening? That sounds like fun." He grins at the cubs having fun with the jerky, being able to understand enough Wolf to understand, 'dude, this rocks!' He tilts his head to the side and then notes to Sergei, "I was told not to have sex with her. I'm not inclined toward it, in any case, but... yeah, I think that was good advice. I wouldn't mind a chance to talk to her, were she amenable, though." He falls silent, listening as Sergei explains the patrol details to Mike, taking in the information himself. He'd heard some of it before, but not all.

"Yeah, we could probably do that, right?" Jack says while looking to Mike for his other half to complete the decision, but he seems on board! Will probably need to not wear flip flops on patrol though. He nods to Trey and says, "Gardening, and building ponds and wetlands, stuff like that. I do the bioengineering, and he does the mechanical engineering. All the filters, pumps, mist and rain systems, stuff like that. Hand me some pvc tubes and I'm just gonna accidentally glue myself to them, but Mike's a *wiz* with all that jazz! And then between us both we grow a lotta plants, raise frogs and fish, and crickets and stuff."

One could almost hear a record scratch echoing from Mike's brain at the words 'dragon' and 'sex'. "Ewwwwww." He claps his hands over his eyes to block seriously gross visuals. Good thing Sergei's there to save him with info about patrols! "Oh, that sounds awesome. Um, we have blowguns and stuff. Is that okay?" he asks. "Plants!" he blurts out, recovering from his mysterious Metis reverie. "I'm a nature scientist. We both are," he says proudly.

Sergei snorts in amusement at Trey's comment "I'd heard the same thing about the Gorgon that lives on the Island, maybe it should just be a rule that shifters not have sex with any of the creatures that appear to be women out there." The pups eventually settle down to actually eat their jerky pieces and Starbreeze is chewing hers more slowly and with something approaching wolfy dignity.

Trey nods sagely at Mike's 'ewww.' "I know, right? I mean, no offense to the lady -- dragon -- in question, but... yeah." He listens to the discussion of exactly what the brothers do for a vocation, and he seems genuinely interested, even if a lot of it is probably over his head. Sergei's snort and comment bring a nod from Trey, and he says, "Yeah, I think it's generally a pretty good idea not to have sex with random women in any case, but I think I'm in the minority in feeling that way."

"Right? Women." Jack says with a dramatic little eyeroll and scoff. "We're usually *covered* in random women, it gets pretty annoying actually. Luckily we managed to slip past the throngs of admierers today though." He's totally joking, of course, and grins. Mike had asked who they're doing stuff for earlier but Jack's player missed answering, so he does so NOW, and blames the lag time on... thinking, or something. "Oh, Irsa's pack wants a marshland set up, and I think the weird girl at the Bone Gnawer colony was interested in a better filtration system for their pond. But that's it, for right now."

Mike makes another ewwwing sound. He pokes his big brother in the side and snickers. "Oh! Here, um... hold on, I've got her name here. Acacia!" he almost shouts when he finds it in his notebook. "She said she can make that spirit guard thing for us, for the house. Which one's Irsa, did I meet her? She's not in the book."

Sergei chuckles at Trey and looks to Jack and Mike before saying "She's a bone gnawer theurge. I haven't heard any complaints or had cause to make any." Which from the way he says it is quite the compliment.

Trey laughs and says, "I just... I just meant that it's... uh... maybe better to get to know who it is first. I don't exactly have random women throwing themselves at me, I mean." Trey shrugs helplessly and remains amused as well; he doesn't seem like the type who takes things personally unless they *should* be. "Irsa? Oh, I know her, she's awesome." Seems like the surfer lingo is rubbing off on the cat. "She's a very tall, muscular Black woman, you'd remember her if you met her. Like half a foot or more taller than me. I like her a lot, consider her a friend in the works."
<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======--->
Mike rolls Intelligence vs 6 for 1 successes.
2 2 4 +7
<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->
<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======--->
Mike rolls Intelligence vs 6 for 1 successes.
3 4 4 +9
<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->

Jack gestures at the other two when they describe the woman, and nods his agreement. "Nice lady, keen to add to her self sustainment. She's the one that gave me all them cuttings and starts that I brought home uh... last week or whatever it was. Any how, her pack follows Fog, so we gotta make something foggy and froggy and amazing."

"Irsa, Bone Gnawer, Theurge, no complaints from Howling Wind'rhya," Mike mutters under his breath as he scrawls away in his book. "Tall than Trey, buff." Odd, he makes no note about her race. More pages can be seen, covered in his thin, spidery writing. "Nice, Fog pack, plant gifts," he finishes up. "Um, blowguns. We probably should make some extra nasty stuff for patrols, yeah? You ever used one of those before, Trey?"

Sergei nods at the general discussion of Irsa and has moved on from the recreational rutting conversation. The mention of blowguns gets a comment "We have a number of herbalists and alchemists in the sept if you want to work out a deal for some treatments to put on blowgun darts in exchange for ingredients you might be able to find or grow."

Trey shakes his head. "No, I've never done that. But I could learn if it was useful," and he holds up his hands helplessly. He adds, "I have some things that I could find useful, myself. White sage in particular. I could probably trade for other things you'd need, depending. I'm a leatherworker, I make other things... obviously, the sept's needs go first."

"Good weapon for a frog ninja!" Jack says of the mighty blowgun, "We're still learning how to harvest or synthesize poisons for it, and testing's a BIT tricky, but we're figuring it out. Not that we wouldn't mind collaborators, science is tricky like that, it likes groups. One of these days we wanna set up a whole rainforest terrarium set up with a buncha poisonous frog breeds, that way we've got options on what to wipe our darts on. But that's gonna take a longass time to work up to."

Mike 's ears perk up at Sergei's words first, then Trey's. "For real? Now that would TOTALLY rock. I can make poison, but yeah, you have to be careful with stuff you don't know." He puts his notebook away and looks at Trey. "Oh, hell yeah. Um, could you make like, an expanding bag-thing? Bellows, I don't know if you've seen that before. I could use a small one, about the size of our packs."

Sergei nods at Jack and shrugs "That's my one suggestion. I know how to use a bow and a few throwing weapons but I don't focus on ranged options too much. Except in how to interfere with them. I have a lot of that."

The idea of a poisonous frog terrarium would give most sane people pause. Trey just seems curious. "That would be a hell of an undertaking, yeah, a lot of work, but if you're going with blowguns as a standard weapon, it would work out nicely for you." He purses his lips, thinking, when asked about the bellows. "If I could find a plan for it I could make that, yeah. I'm pretty sure I could dig that up on the Internet. Let me see what I can dig up, and I'll let you know if it's doable, but I can't imagine why it wouldn't be." He nods eagerly and says, "I am going to be learning the bow, too, because my warform is not very strong, but is very quick and agile, so I wanted a ranged option."

"I'm terrified that one of these days one of us is going to suck in a dart and knock ourselves out mid mission somewhere." Jack admits about the use of blowguns. "It hasn't happened YET, but, you know." He asks Mike curiously, "Whatcha gonna bellow at?" Back to Trey and Sergei, he adds, "It's mostly only a good weapon in homid. No lips in crinos, so it's about impossible to use then. Course, if you're gonna be in war form, then you're already covered in pointy things. Never used a bow before, I think I'd hurt myself."

Mike looks around for a stick and draws a super-rough sketch in the dirt. "Um, I want to make a box to fume things with chemicals," he tells the others. "Mostly metals, but you can do it with glass or plastics too. But it's gotta be safe, you know? Nothing toxic or nasty, that'd mess with the water and earth and stuff. Find a way to alter the properties of things we put inside. Think of all the applications there!"

Sergei nods at Trey "I learned the bow from a former packmate, Mercy's Messenger. She's very good and she makes interesting ammunition." then he nods at Jack "That's a fair point. Especially since I have more than one gift to make my warform even more dangerous and pointy. And sometimes on fire."

"That would be bad," Trey notes, contemplating the idea of sucking in a dart and wincing. Now Mike is explaining something that sounds vaguely like alchemy, and Trey huhs and listens, trying to figure out what, precisely, he's describing. "Like... something with a vent that pulls out the fumes? Am I understanding it right?" Trey beams and ohs at the mention of Mercy. "I'm supposed to have lessons with her as well. She has been teaching me the Spirit Summoning rite, as well. In the longer term, I'm hoping to learn how to make talens and eventually, fetishes, so that I can help with that here at the sept. I'm... well, we don't have the phases of Luna's face to govern us, among the Bastet, but I tend toward a lot of the things Theurges traditionally do."

"How... can you get *more* pointy?" Jack asks Sergei curiously, and with the expression of someone trying to imagine it. Like... a were-porcupine. That would do it! Considering Mike's dirt sketch and imagining it a bit lately, he nods at both his brother and then at Trey, saying, "I bet you could do either thing, vent out fumes to keep clear air, or vent out air to saturate with fumes. I bet you could make some pretty interesting stuff with that, everything from circuit coatings to deeply embedding capsaicin oils into the fibers of someone's jockeys."

"Not right away," Mike says to Trey. "You have to build a chamber to mix the gas, then pump it in with the bellows into the fume box, which creates the environment for the bonding reaction of whatever materials you place inside." Science, it's wonderful and amazing! "Venting the excess.. I could, but it'd be smart to catch it in a cannister and transmute it somehow, you know? Mostly because we live in a house, and nothing draws the cops like weird drug lab-looking shit. Remember Tibor's place, Jack? Woof.""

Sergei grins at Jack "I have not yet petitioned Porcupine for its blessing, but I can change myself into a living sculpture of Icicles. Between my tribal winter gifts and the blessings of Nergal I've learned to call upon I can get very cold and pointy." The artificing talk just gets a touch confusing so he just nods sagely.

Trey looks a bit confused at the details of the chemical recombinations and thus and so; the kittycat doesn't have a science background, but he does look at the dirt sketch again, and then back up as the two talk about things beyond his ken. Perhaps now he's getting a taste of what other people when he's talking about enchanting! He's still interested, mind you... just not up to speed. He oohs at the idea of Sergei turning to icicles. "Oh, that's lovely and deadly," he says with a smile. "And I can imagine what a gift from Porcupine would do. It sounds *very* effective--" His eyes go wide as he hears about Nerigal's blessing. "Oh, did you travel on the Umbral ship?" Now there's an eager expression.

Jack offers his brother a high five and a nod at his spoken thoughts, "Yeah... Although fortunately his house always smelled like cake, which does wonders for keeping neighbors SOMEwhat at bay. ... We should make more cakes at our house." He "HA!"'s at Sergei and says, "Like a super lethal Jack Frost, I love it! I dunno who's blessings those are, but that's pretty damned awesome. Myself, I channel the power of beer, and once hit someone with m'warform belleh to knock 'em down. Worked a treat!" he says while patting his beer belly. His combat prowess knows no bounds! "Where's an umbral ship?" he asks, and now it's his turn to look completely baffled. This is so far outside his wheelhouse as to be in a whole 'nother country!

"Umbral ship? No fuckin way." Mike is right there with his big bro, looking completely lost. Turn about is fair play, science dudes. "He said Umbral ship, right? I didn't get that wrong?"

Sergei shakes his head at Trey "No. My tribe has our own ways to pettion the lord of war and winter for his blessings." Then he nods to Jack and Mike "Mercy's Messenger is a realm walker and has a boat in the umbra that sails between worlds."

Trey ohs at Sergei, and nods sagely. "And the secrets of the Elder Brother are not for others," he nods, understanding at least on some level. "Someday I'm hoping to see the Heavens, too. To see Seline... Luna... to touch her face? I would be a very privileged cat indeed." He smiles almost dreamily at the idea. "Mercy's-Messenger has mentioned some of her journeys, and I wanted to hear more, someday when she has time. Just... imagine how damn cool that is."

"That's fuckin cray, y'all." Jack says with his brows stuck way up on his forehead in wonder. "I don't even think I could handle a whole other planet, PROBABLY best if I just stay on this one! But I wanna hear all the badass stories you guys pick up about it, cause it sounds *really* awesome. Fuckin... Umbral ship, what in the actual hell, right? We do scuba diving, that's KINDA like going to another planet!"

"Totally cray," Mike agrees. "Oh! But we can travel between dimensions and shit, remember? I mean, it sucks for humans to try it, and we definitely don't stick a toe in there 'cause I like living and stuff, but Backstage exists."

Sergei nods at Jack "It certainly is. Especially in the ocean out of sight from land." Then Mike gets a curious look "Backstage? Is that a particular umbral realm?"

Trey grins. "Seriously. Whatever I hear, I can pass along as long as she's cool with that, because ya know." He says, ruefully, "Bastet don't get to the Umbra as easily as the Garou do, but I'm working on that. I have other ways to try," he adds, trying to seem mysterious. "Scuba sounds like fun, I could go fishing. Or just look around and enjoy it."

"If it makes you feel any better, I *suck* at crossing the gauntlet." Jack confides to Trey, "I mostly only do it here at the caern where it's a little easier to get through, and then mostly just to check on my spirit bro. There's a frog that came to California with us from 'Poo, I like to make sure he's doin' okay. Nice little dude, I named him Ziggy." He prods Mike mercilessly with finger pokes to the ticklish part of the ribs, "You tell 'em, you got it all mapped out way better than I do." he suggests when alternate dimensions are asked about.

Mike grins at his brother and sits up a bit straighter. Lecturer mode, activated! "No, definitely not Umbral realms. It's here, only NOT here." He thumps the ground with his fist. "A different version of here. Alternate dimensions. They follow a lot of the same rules, but all of them, all of them, have something -off-. Like, rules of science and time that don't mash up with ours. Places that don't exist here, people that are totally different but are still the same ones as here. Regular, normal humans? They stumble into these dimensions all the time, and sometimes they just don't come back. The newest one making the rounds on the tribal net is the Back Rooms, or Backstage. Nasssty stuff." Mike says, “James Dean? Yeah, he's the President in one, for example.”

Sergei blinks a couple of times rapidly at Mike's explanation before looking down at his mate and kids before saying "Time to get this lot home. And not thinking about how there are probably even more dimensions to secure against intrusion from. That...is going to be odd to figure out."

Trey is somewhere between fascinated and disturbed by the idea of there being parallels of this world out there, where people can walk into them just by chance. "Ordinary humans can do this? On purpose? Or just... it's accidental? So they could stumble into a world where... okay, let's say, a world where the Soviet Union still existed. Or where there were two suns instead of one? And people are just getting lost into these places?" To say he is completely flummoxed is an understatement. He looks up at Sergei as he rises, and he offers, "I hadn't even gotten that far with it. Have a good night... and yeah, probably best not to think too much about this."

Jack grins at Sergei's '...I'm out!' tactic, and leans more on one hand so he can wave at the guy, "Have a good'un!" He then nods gravely to Trey and says, "Yeah, there's some very odd glitches in the Matrix and plenty of people have been thrown for all sorts of loops when they discovered that something fundimental in their lives has just been totally wonked out." While he's still got an arm free, he digs in his pocket to check the time on his phone. "OH! Shit, Mike, we gotta go, man, the lecture starts in like half an hour. We're definitely gonna end up being late!" he gets to his feet with some grunts of effort while talking, and starts picking up his bags for a hike out.

"Oh shit! Yeah, we gotta book it. I don't want to miss this one, soooo much is getting covered." And on that enigmatic note, Mike grabs his things. "Um, you remember how to get to our house, right? We've got plenty of beer."