2023.05.07 Aetherial Sound

2023.05.07 Aetherial Sound
A study in the nature of sound and its place in the cosmos from Iris, for Evan and Trey.
IC Date	05.07.23
Players	Iris, Evan, Trey
Location	The Space Boat
Spheres	Garou, Bastet

Space Boat - Low Earth Orbit

Space. The final frontier.

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

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

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

---

So, we're on a boat, on a boat, take a good hard look at the mother fuckin boat (yeah!).

Probably Iris highjacked everyone here, she's still got to tether Trey in order to get him here, so picking up Evan for the same isn't a problem. "I mean I COULD have just talked to you guys at the caern or whatever, but I wanted to show Evan something cool, and you too Trey, cause I don't think I'd ever mentioned it to you before. But we should grab sandwiches first, no one likes discovery on an empty stomach. Unless you're trying to discover something ABOUT an empty stomach, but I'm still pretty sure no one would like it." she says while heading to the kitchen to make a to-go lunch.

---

Evan is fairly kidnappable, especially by Elder Garou that he isn't trying to avoid. So he just ambles along when Iris heads to the kitchen "Food is good. I do like food. And Learning new things."

---

Trey notes, "This is always more fun than the caern because... I mean, space boat, okay?" He chuckles, "I'm always down to see something new and cool. You want a hand with the sandwiches or should I dig out the drinks?" He pats his stomach and says, "Long ago, when I was just a kitten, I discovered that empty stomachs suck, and they especially suck when you drink too much cold water at once." He kind of half-dances around a spirit, trying not to get in the way of the crew.

---

Iris points to Trey and says, "Drinks!" and then to Evan and says, "Side snacks!" thus delivering their particular duties while she puts together some simple sammies. Simple, but awesome. That home made bread, self ground mustard, garden grown lettuce and cheese from a cow she's met personally. She goes through a lot of trouble for a ethical and natural diet, but damned if it doesn't result in some good stuff. She probably still apologizes to the meat that goes on the sandwiches. She gets them wrapped up in some wax paper and into a basket that awaits the offerings of the student types before saying, "Okay so for this, we need to get away from the boat and the clouds, out to where it's quiet. Evan, stick close, I presume you probably suck at flying, but you'll get the hang of it. Just remember, the secret to flight is just *wanting* to go somewhere, not kicking or flailing or flapping your arms."

---

Evan is headed over to get some of the previously mentioned snacks, looks like home made pretzel nuggets are the order of the day. There's three bags, labeled with names but the hand writing is very blocky and evan says "Oh, looks like this was planned ahead?"

---

Trey comes forth with bottled water and sun tea, packing the reusable bottles into the basket neatly. The beer is best left for *after* the lesson, he figures. "Reminds me," he says with a wry expression. "I need to learn the prey rite at some point in the near future." He remarks about the flight, "You can grab onto a hand on one of us if you want until you get the hang of it." He peers over Evan's shoulder. "Ooooh, pretzel nuggets! And I think Pink might see the future, sometimes. Either that, or we're getting predictable." He smiles fondly. "Pink is great. I'd say a great kid, but he's older than me, technically."

---

Iris looks and says, "Huh." She nods at Trey and says, "He's... Non-linear, I guess is the gentlest way to put it. Not quite a prophet, more of a random jumper of time streams without any particular control over things. He must have forseen today, and that only makes me a LITTLE worried, because I cant be sure he's seeing significant moments or purely random ones. Either way, prepare for the worst." Once lunch is packed, she leads the way to the deck and its railing. "Crash course on the Aetherial realm, Evan. This is the realm of birds and flight, so a law of this realm gives all within it the ability to fly as birds do. There's gravity when your feet are on the ship because magic, but not off of the ship. You're gonna need to step overboard for this, so try not to freak out too much, okay? Trey, if you wouldn't mind demonstrating how I'm definitely not trying to murder us all, that would be great."

---

Evan nods in agreement with Trey "Oh that's a good idea. That's another one of those ones everyone should learn yeah?" He follows along, listening to Iris's briefing as he leans on the deck rail with one hand and peers over the side "So I should probably let someone else go first? Flying sounds super cool though."

---

Trey huhs and nods in agreement with the question. "Yeah. It's not one common among my folk, but I figure respect for my prey is always a good thing." With the revelation of Pink's foresight, his lips twist with a moment's concern. "So definitely want to keep our eyes open, ears perked, et cetera," he agrees. "Watch out for significant moments. Hope for random ones." The tone is serious, for a change, with that. He chuckles with the request and says, "My pleasure." He then moves to the railing, steps over and off, and plummets. No, really. He plummets about six feet, and then pops back up readily, hovering close by. He can't get too far from Iris, after all. He's grinning. "This never gets old," he admits.

---

With Trey demonstrating the lack of falling forever into the literal abyss of space, Iris makes an 'after you!' gesture at Evan, giving the go ahead for him to step cautiously off or hurl himself off or whatever he fancies. "In the physical world, you're helpless when without gravity, but in the umbra, your mind is your control. Know where you want to go, and you may go there. It still takes some practice because we are not inherently meant for flight and part of our brains like to rebel against the idea and try to panic, but once you get the hang of it, it's like riding a flying bicycle, you never forget how." Once Evan's gone, she'll step off, and say, "I can teach you guys the two hunting rites, if you like, Hunting Prayer and Prayer for the Prey. There's actually a city based version of that latter too, if you need."

---

Evan totally does just yeet himself off the side once Iris gives him the go ahead. And it looks like he was going for a dive or something but it turns into a tumble that's going to take him a hot minute to sort out.

---

Trey smiles at his packmate-teacher and says, "I'd appreciate that. You've given me reason to think a lot more about the relationship with my prey." He nods at the instruction, and adds, "You can just stop on a dime, too. It's amazing. I thought I was gonna go splat the first time I saw that one in action." He lets Evan get his own balance and equilibrium sorted, remembering doing some tumbles of his own. "Oh, next time, I can totally be the penguin-talker now," he tells Iris with a merry tone. "You can just will your feet downward," he finally offers.

---

Iris grins and can totally appreciate some bravery and willingness to hurl one's self into something new and unknown, laughing with Evan's tumble. "This way!" she urges. She doesn't *help*, exactly, hand holding isn't her job after all, teaching is, so she simply keeps close to where Evan is to provide encouragement, but she leaves it to him to will himself into shape and figure out how to move with them. "Good for you!" she says, and rewards Trey's gift learning with a high five!" She pauses, about to caution Evan against throwing up in zero gravity, but reconsiders, mentioning that might make it happen. As she gets them lead out into the black away from the boat and high enough up that the bird spirits and their chatter stay below them, she says, "So, two things today, first thing is about sound. I was thinking you might appreciate this, as a Galliard. And you, since you like to yowl like crazy." She says to Evan, and adds that last to Trey with a grin.

---

Evan nods and grins at Iris as he gets himself floating upright and steady relative to the others "It could even be fairly said that Sound is my whole job. Just some of them are older sounds than others."

---

Trey high-fives Iris back and beams. "I just have to be careful I don't wind up having conversations with my potential dinner. Cats are obligate carnivores and I don't think I could eat something I just had a conversation with." As they move through the blackness, Trey does occasionally move a limb here and there, just because it seems to feel more *right* that way. Or maybe he's still getting used to the Aetherial, too. "I don't think many Bastet get to see this part of the Umbra," he comments. "I'm lucky."

He laughs at the yowling remark and attempts to look innocent. His attempt is not very good. "Yeah, but I'm kind of hesitant to yowl too much after hearing Evan's song the other night... do you know I *dreamed* that song afterward, Evan? It was that amazing. I mean... I still hear it in my head from time to time. The resonance you have in your voice on that last line is just..." He shakes his head.

---

"You are, very much, a sonic child." Iris says, both as a point to his Galliard self as much as making a compliment of his lovely voice. Soon, they're in absolute silence, the boat within view but far enough away that it's sounds don't reach them and the bird spirits moving without sound like dots against the clouds of the earth. "Something we land-based critters don't tend to recognize is the infinite mirroring of everything in creation. The mirror of a solar system and an atom, a galaxy and a thumb print. We're connected to everything that exists, a part of a great repeating fractal that ranges from unimaginably massive to so small it cant be seen with the naked eye. There are a lot of threads that connect things, but one of these threads is sound. It transcends size, distance, dimensions, you could think of it as the breath of creation. Evan, you're a Galliard, your birthright is to communicate, share ideas, negotiate, haggle, and everything that comes with having a voice. There's a lot of ways of being a Galliard, but you're very clearly a vocal sort. You are connected to the breath of creation. Luna granted you your auspice, but your auspice is not limited to the earth and the moon. It's a part of the repeating fractal, a part of the voice of everything. Are you both following me so far?"

---

Evan nods and grins at Iris "Like one of my music teachers said that planets all vibrate and move along their orbits in ways we can translate into musical notes. I still remember the sequence if you want to hear."

---

Trey nods; he's following fine, having seen some of this wide wondrous universe and noting its vastness but also its place amidst even greater vastness. "The Mother's voice is everywhere," he says, "Nala -- Gaia -- is only one aspect of Her, in the larger scheme of things, but She is *our* aspect of the Mother. At least, that is how I've always viewed the tales." He ohhhs at the offer of hearing the sounds of each of the planets and smiles eagerly. "Oh, please?"

<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======--->
Trey rolls Perception(3) + Alertness(3) (6 dice) vs 8 for -1 successes.
-1 -1 2 5 6 7
<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->

<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======--->
Evan rolls Perception + Alertness vs 8 for 1 successes.
2 7 +10
<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->

---

"First, hold the sequence in your mind, remember it the way you were taught." Iris says, then sweeps her arms in an upward arch, presses her palms together and brings them down in front of her chest, Yoga style. "Now close your eyes. Take long, steady breathes. Strain your ears against the silence and see if what your instructor said was true. Find the wisdom wrapped up in their words. Then, sing. Not alone, not in silence. Sing with them." She points at Trey as well, a wordless 'you too' gesture from her before a wordless demand for quiet.

This isn't meditation, really, it's just an exercise in patience and straining one's ears to hear something that hasn't been quite defined. You don't know what you're listening for until you hear it, you know? Iris is patient as fuck, but this might be a trial for a young'un.

Evan: There is just silence, endless, void-like silence. It's not oppressive, it's just an... absence. There's *nothing* to hear, because it's god damned *space*. But, no, there IS something to hear, so far at the edge of hearing that it takes a minute to realize it's not a ringing in your own ears. A high, sweet sound, like a note from a violin made of crystal. Once you hear *that*, you can hear all the undertones. Deep and high and everything in between, something like a dozen notes that aren't jumbled and don't conflict, but weave seamlessly in and out of one another like the burble of different conversations in a large room, blending and moving between each other in a celestial choir.

Trey: You hear your own breathing. Holy shit, do you *really* breathe this loud? And oh my god, your heart is SO LOUD. Seriously, how do you put up with this much noise, how does no one ever comment on it and tell you what you've just now noticed, that you have a tiny whistle in your left nostril and EVERYONE can hear the weird, wet sound of your eye twitching. For that matter, Evan and Iris also breathe SO LOUD. Everything about this is noisy and unappealing.

---

Evan listens, and concentrates on the memory and mentally walks himself through it. Remembering how it was explained that the actual vibrations are thirty three octaves lower than what humans can hear. How it would take a piano keyboard over five meters long to reach those notes. Then he remembers something important, something his music teacher didn't know. Evan is Magic. Evan has more than ears to listen with. So he focuses those memories, those sounds through his Gnosis, his spirit self, and then... he finds it.

---

Trey closes his eyes and breathes. Slowly. Slowly. Calm, so calm... and then... Do I always make that growling sound when I breathe? Is that a whistle coming out of my nose? My heart sounds like a rampaging rhino in heat. What the hell? Calm, dude. Breathe. Holy shit, can they all hear me breathing this loud? Why is my eyelid twitching? His eyes flick open, and he stares at the two Garou. I must be learning to be noisy, how will I ever hunt from ambush? Jeez, every duck in a mile radius would hear that stupid whistling sound and the rabbits would run like mad things at the sound of my heart and what...

"...the actual fuck," he murmurs, and that sounds like thunder in his ears, and he lets out a little tiny whimper that sounds like a whole world dying at once. He swallows. A rockslide.

"Sorry," he whispers, realizing he's fucking everyone else up, too. Okay. Start again. Breathe slowly. Slowly. Breathe, calm.

(rolling again at +1 diff, burning a wp to success.)

<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======--->
Trey rolls Perception(3) + Alertness(3) (6 dice) vs 9 for 0 successes.
2 3 3 4 4 8
<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->

Trey loses one Willpower

---

Evan does what one would expect a galliard of his sort left alone with new notes to do. He starts matching them against the sequence he already knows and adjusts what he has from before to fit what he's hearing now. And he's floating there in space, eyes closed and he wordlessly sings, a range of two full octaves. And while he was taught a run of nine notes for the nine planets he instead does a run of notes matching to the celestines of Garou Astrology. Even if he doesn't realize it.

<---======##====================[ Dice Roll ]=====================##======--->
Trey rolls Charisma(4) + Expression(2) (6 dice) vs 6 for 0 successes.
1 1 3 3 8 10
<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->

---

Trey goes silent, and listens... and then there are notes, a song, a voice. His mind reaches out to make sense of it, to assign meaning to the pattern. He recognizes one low, resonant, dolorous note as belonging to Meros readily, and the silent approval of his Totem lets him know he's found it. Then he's trying to run them through his mind -- he doesn't have a Galliard's sound-memory, but he's doing his best. He tries to mimic the sounds, but he's again, not a Galliard, and not given to the truth of Sound. He frowns, trying to sink back into focus, but he's muddled his own notes now.

---

Iris's eyes are open, and she's both watching the kids, and watching over the kids. Cant be all blotto and distracted when you have the young folk out of the range of the protective flag on the ship that affords them camouflage from the predators that lie unseen in the Aetherial. She chuckles silently at Trey when he has an ISSUE with hearing beyond himself, but she doesn't try to correct him or anything. This is just one of those things she has to sit patiently through and wait for the kids to Hear It. Both of them, not just Evan. But when they do, or when they both seem to any how. When their expressions tell her that both have heard the chorus, that's when she speaks. Quietly, gently, without any intent to disturb the music they're hearing, even if it is out there at the far edge of their ear.

"They're talking to each other, as we are right now. Huge, massively powerful beings at a comfortable distance from each other having a conversation in the secret tongue of the High Umbrood. As they talk, they vibrate, resonating with further sounds that we're simply incapable of hearing, sounds of the stars, the umbral winds, the tapestry of reality. Were we large enough and great enough to see the tapestry, we might view it as a masterwork of complicated weaving, but we might also hear it as an orchestra made of millions. Everything is made, in part, of sound, everything adds to the symphony. When I call you by your names, it's not the word that matters, it's the sound. The sound identifies you, and you are that sound."

---

Evan and in proof that Evan is not completely lacking in a sense of self preservation he does not attempt to channel the celestial song into his Gift that allows him to boost the range at which his howls can be heard. To join the chorus in a song fit to shake the vault of the heavens. Probably because he knows he can't actually do that. Not yet. But...it is sure good to have goals.

---

Trey opens his eyes again, and watches Iris as she speaks in that unblinking way he sometimes has when he focuses a little too hard. He listens to both, and is about to answer, but closes his mouth, looking over to Evan and asking, in a near-whisper, "Can you run through those notes once more?" He wants to commit them properly to memory without distortion from his own attempts to mimic them.

---

Iris gives Evan time to sing the universal song again so Trey can mark it in his memory, then continues. "When we Theurges summon spirits, we must make a sound, a rhythm. Magic is great but we cant magically make some water spirit know we want to talk to them. We have to make the sound that water is to tell water that we need them. When we tap for the minor rite of Bone Rhythms, we are tapping out the rhythm and sound of our totem. When we howl, or yowl, we sing the sound of victory or defeat, birth or death. You can make an opposing sound though, like one person yelling at another to shut them down, or pitching your voice just so in order to shatter crystal. Everything has a like sound, and an opposing sound. As a Galliard, you'll learn these sounds, but I thought it might be nice to put some context behind some of the rites you see, or the moots you perform at, so that you can see how your auspice arcs much higher and farther than what you're seeing with your eyes, sorta help you appreciate your moon phase a little more than you already do. And you, Trey, I wanted to give you some context for when I tell you that we're going to Brazil to barter for a thing that will make a sound that opposes the sound of the Gauntlet. Since your try at a fetish to cross the Gauntlet didn't pan out, it's time to try a different track. If you can slip your way through, you may as well bash your way through."

---

Evan shakes his head to clear it as he focuses back on words and things as small as people. Paying attention to the Elder is the order of the day after recounting the notes again for Trey "And I have a gift that allows me to perfectly recall anything I've ever experienced. So if you need it again later we can be sure I am remembering correctly." Then he nods to Iris "I suppose that's what True Name magic is really about, getting the sound right. There's more too it than what human languages can contain."

---

Trey listens again, committing the sounds to memory properly, without any embellishment. He can't identify them all, but time will let him unravel that riddle. Time and focus, and won't that make a good meditation? "That's a very useful gift, and it makes sense that a tale-teller would have it." Not that he's plotting to Swipe it or anything.

For someone who talks as much as he does, the idea of sound having so much power was... well, somewhere in the back of his mind, but never brought this far to the forefront before now. A slow blink follows, and he grins at the declaration of destination. "We are? Oh, *cool*." He grins broadly, and then realizes just how dangerous that part of the world is. But then, is there a part of the world that *isn't* dangerous in one way or another? "That will be awesome. I admit, I'm still annoyed about screwing that up. It *should* have worked. But try, try again, right?"

There's a moment, and then he asks, with his usual head-tilted sort of expression of curiosity, "What thing makes a sound opposite the Gauntlet?" He's fascinated at the very idea, it seems. "It never even occurred to me to try that tactic."

---

"Earthly language is pretty decent for us, not great though it works pretty well, but in the grand scheme of things it's a sneeze in a typhoon. It matters, that little sound is part of that roar, but it's small when it's all on its own." Iris agrees with a nod to Evan. She then shakes her head at Trey and says, "Try not to think of it as screwing something up. Think of it more like Selene deciding you should accomplish your goals through an adventure rather than a sorcerous medium. Besides, would you have gotten to Brazil with the idea of sound blasting your way into the umbra if it HAD worked? Probably not!" To answer his question, she says, "A fucknormous drum that's really, *really* loud. Have either of you met Miguel? Big gigantic freakin jaguar? We're gonna go find him, and then see about a good spot to work off the price of a drum. I'd offer to take you with, Evan, but it's preeeeeetty dicy down there. You'll have to come on some other adventure."

---

Trey notes, "I never told you? He owns the Kitten Itza big cat sanctuary. I live at the big house there." He laughs softly and shakes his head in rueful disbelief. "I can't believe I never mentioned that. So... uh, yeah, I know him, I play with his kittens all the time. Which amounts to catching small birds and mice, making sure they're cleansed, and then dropping them into their enclosure for them to hunt."

He hrms, and then says, "That's a good perspective. I personally figured she wanted me to keep going, but I was kind of taking a step back to figure out what next. This is a great idea, though!" He's definitely encouraged by the idea, happy to give it another try.

He ohhhs and chuckles. "I can definitely do that. If nothing else, I can go down there, teach some rites to people, maybe craft some things to help them out."

---

Evan pauses and looks back at Iris "That's the quality they were talking about...When I was learning the Galliard's craft according to tribal tradition it got brought up that one of the most important things about telling the stories isn't the precise translation but making the audience feel and understand what they're supposed to get out of it. The cosmic harmony." The bit about the adventure "That's fair enough. I'm sure there are going to be plenty more adventures closer to Prospect."

---

"No I think you did, I just didn't check that memory bin before I opened my mouth." Iris tells Trey with a grin, and then opines, "Oh, that, or blow some shit up. But that might be the SUPER bright moon talking." She 'stands up', or at any rate stretches out her legs as if she were standing. "Okay kids, let's get out of the lesson zone and go have some fun. Did you know wizards used to live in the clouds? Every once in a while you find ruins when you're cruising around. Or you get zapped by a lightning elemental, but them's the breaks." She whips open the basket in case anyone is hungry yet, and starts a leasurely float towards the clouds of earth. "Oh, man, Galliards have *great* gifts for storytelling, I sometimes think I should try and learn some of them, but then I'd feel bad about taking story time away from an *actual* storyteller."

---

Evan grins at Iris and says, with a touch of sass in his voice "Well you can call up the spirits for those gifts and they can teach me their tricks. And you can farm out your storytelling tasks to me. That one for mimicing sounds has so much performance potential." Then he looks around and follows along towards the clouds "Ruins in the clouds? Neat."

---

Trey hrms, and says, "I could be down with blowing some shit up as long as I'm not the one catching on fire. And ya know, it might be the moon, at that," he says, chuckling.

He draws in a breath as he listens, and nods again at the idea of the harmony of it. "The measure of a story isn't just in the words. For Bastet, stories are... well, most of us expect our fellows to pick the truth out of tales we tell. So I get you on that, completely. My tribe are riddlers, not so much storytellers, though they have some overlap."

He grins and says, "Someday when I am a Bon Bhat, I will take over a castle in the clouds and bring kittens there to teach so that they can all call me 'the crazy old lynx up in the castle.' Or something like it." He grins. "The mimicry gift is so cool. If you can convince them to teach you, it's awesome." And he winks. He might have tried to convince a spirit to teach him a gift he shouldn't have, a time or two.

He 'rises' and stretches a bit, as if he'd actually been sitting, and looks pensively at the basket as they float on down.

---

"I'm pretty sure there's a law that says you have to yell at them about being on your lawn a lot. Even though there's no lawns in the clouds." Iris says with a grin. If no one's game yet, she'll shut ye olde basket and save it for later. It's there whenever anyone gets hungry! Gotta keep your strength up for... Whatever. Cloud stuff. Speaking of clouds, They're thick and grey underneith and fluffy white on top, spread out in a big huge carpet over California while winter jumps up to yell 'AND ANOTHER THING!' before fucking off for a little while. There's an actual topography here, even if it is as ever changing as the Ever Changing pack name. Mountains, valleys, canyons and plateus, it's not just a big flat expanse. Blue and red sparks are active in the clouds, jumping around in excitement for a downpour. Over the clouds, shit tons of birds are spread out over the world, big and little, mundane looking or fantastical, all sort of bird spirits. Lots of air elementals as well, but they're difficult to see. "I have a thought, but it's stuck." Iris complains while touching down on the spongey cloud layer. It's like walking on marshmallows and soap bubbles.

---

Evan grins at Iris and shrugs "I'm sure you'll remember it if it winds up being important. This might be the coolest place I've been yet."

---

Trey laughs and shakes his head, imagining it. "I'll manage to find a lawn somehow. A lawn made of little clouds in rows." He bounces merrily on the cloud under him. "I wish I could just sleep on these," he says with a dreamy expression. "I mean, beds are nice but... this is so springy and soft and squishy."

His gaze takes in California below, watching the sparks, enjoying the sight of all of the different THINGS. All the things! He does, however, have to restrain himself from ambushing the birds. Wrong place, and wrong form, for that.

"Did it involve the trip? Or the sounds of the cosmos? Or tiny pickles?"

---

"Ooooooo, tiny pickles." Iris says, and starts searching the basket. "Shit, no tiny pickles." She sighs ever so dramatically. "I don't know. I *feel* like it was important, but if it was *that* important then it wouldn't have gotten stuck and fallen into the forgotten bin, right? Probably. Oh well. CLOUDS! You could actually sleep up here, you'd just want to make sure to bring a blanket. It gets cold and a little bit damp. Not wet, but like, you know when you sleep out how your shirt and pants feel eeeeeeever so fucking annoying in the morning by drinking in that morning moisture? That. And you guys can walk up here any time you like, traveling those moon paths." she adds, pointing to the silvery ribbons that wind and twist their way from moon to earth, spread out like shiny hairs in the black. "It takes a little while since they aren't exactly straight roads, but they do all eventually get up here. Just be careful as the moon gets dimmer, you don't want a path breaking under you, that'd really suck."

---

Evan chuckles as he looks over at the moon paths "Oh it'll be a fair bit before I go anywhere umbral above like ground level. Without supervision that is. I know my limitations."

---

Trey ohhs and sorries. "There's pretzel nuggets, though. And sammiches." He studies Iris' face for a moment and says, "Yeah, I don't know, that damp feeling is... I don't mind being *wet*, but *damp* just makes my fur smell. My hair, too, I mean. But that damp cat smell would probably drive me nuts, as soft as it would be..."

He regards the moon path with a thoughtful expression. "Yeah, I think I will probably stick with the boat, for now at least. Though the moon bridge to Niagara was a nice trip, not as long as I thought it would be at all." He nods to Evan's statement and says, "Probably the smart way to do it."

Not that he would know, but then, there's a reason he's named, more or less, "Does Things He Shouldn't."

---

"Probably the smart thing to do, yeah." Iris tells Evan with a grin, "I never did know my limitations, which is probably why I get into so much trouble. Be better than me!" Another nod, this time for Trey, "Yeah the caern path's are pretty powerful and quick, they're fun to use." There's a lot of blue sparks within the clouds under their feet, and Iris suggests quickly, "Let's move over here!" and quickly bounce jogs her way away. The spirits in the clouds are getting awfully excited, but their attention is downwards, not upwards, so there's no great danger to the cloud walkers when the lightning snaps down towards the ground, but it's still tingly and alarming, and comes with a moderate danger of being lightly zapped. What IS big is the sound. Thunder's loud in the clouds!

---

Evan laughs and bounds after the Elder, almost jumping out of his skin when the thunder crash happens. Laughing he calls out "What the fuck? Someone has something to say there?!"

---

Trey bounces along with the other two, rolling in mid-air when the thunder hits. Why? Because he can. "Holy crap, that's loud!" He seems delighted at the discovery, grinning at Evan's exclamation, and just plain enjoying himself. "We should pick a spot to sit and have lunch and watch the lightning!"

---

Iris calls out, over the rumbling purr that probably shook some windows down on the ground level, "Grandfather Thunder! Grand dads never do like to repeat themselves, do they?" The lightning elementals streak under foot, gathering their gumption for another strike, and fire elementals exalt in the chaotic destruction of their brethren, breeching like dolphins from the clouds, ready to ride strikes down to the ground and bask in the heat they leave behind. Or maybe dance through a field or forest if the rain isn't too heavy. "Yeah!" Iris agrees, doing a bit of climbing/flying combo up a hill of clouds that's a bit more on the safe and fluffy side. From there they'll have a good view of the excitable spirits, the mild storm happening gets everyone riled up.

---

Evan gets up the hill and looks back at where the flashes appear below the surface of the clouds. Watching the oddest storm view he's ever seen "This is just straight up bonkers. You realize that right? Even for Garou. Absolutely bonkers."

---

Trey grins broadly. "Yep. It is. Absolutely bugnuts," he agrees, finding himself a fluffy spot to perch and help dig out lunch. "It's like this, for me. When there's so much in this world to see and experience... why not grab as much of it as you can? I get opportunities here that most Bastet don't, so..." he holds up his hands for a moment in a broad shrug, then hands over a sandwich. "Seize the day."

---

Iris helps bust out sammies and nuggies for all, and sets hers in her lap while she passes out beverages. "Carpeing all them diems." It comes out to a count of three sandwiches, three drinks, and four baggies of nuggets, the last one goes to the young, road weary, quintessential traveler that just sort of appears with the group. "Yeah but I mean, imagine how fish must feel. The kind of fish that don't mind getting out of the water, I mean." A little ways away is another colossal booooooooooom! at the same moment some lightning elemental goes bug nuts and dives for the earth, wreathed in fire and air. Since they don't have to wait for the sound to catch up to them, both things happen at the same time. "Is it?" she asks, "I mean for real though, I'm seriously asking. I mean you hear all these amazing stories about packs doing some death defying thing, toppling Wyrmish nightmare factories or delving deep into the umbra on quests for strange things. I grew up with stories about ladies on flying horses and sea monsters fighting dudes in boats. SURELY this is only *mostly* bonkers. Oh, this is our totem Meros. Say hi, Evan." The spirit waves at the Galliard and says, "Hi, Evan."

---

Evan grins and shrugs at Trey "Oh I wasn't saying any different. I am all about grabbing onto life with both hands and giving it a good shake to see what I can make fall out." Then the the spirit Evan gives a grin before explaining to Iris "Oh sure. But that's in stories. Myths and fables that are told as lessons to emulate or cautionary tales to avoid. I am starting to realize tho that I might be in one of those. But the variety remains to be determined yeah?"

---

Trey is just enjoying the crackling and booming, the soaring lightning elementals bright and spectacular as they head for the earth below. He takes a huge bite of the sandwich and makes a happy noise, waving with his free hand to Meros as he appears. "Mph!" That's probably a greeting. "Yeah," he agrees, once his mouth is empty, "One man's reality is another man's story, and... well, every story of your Nation was once the deed of living people, or spirits, or someone... I mean, I just accept that I'm the comic relief in the ongoing tale of the wonders of the Space Boat and her stalwart crew, and it makes a lot more sense that way." He takes a swallow from his drink and nods at the final question. "Yep."

---

Iris snerks a laugh and says, "Probably a bit of both. You know, if I was your auspice senior, I'd make your Adren challenge returning to White Water to tell all your first hand experience tales and see if you can make any of them believe you. You did say some of your elders were pleased to see you go, I bet they'd be shocked to hear about some of the things you'll end up getting into during your time with us. And you," she nudges Trey, "Your Taghairms will be lively with 'was that bs or true??' I bet."