[Joss Lehrer] (First things first: HIPPY VAN AWAKENING! to make it official.)
Wits+Rituals diff Hippy Van Rage, which is 2, according to Damon. = 6 diff 2
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 3, 4, 4, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 2)
[Joss Lehrer] The hippy van rides like a dream. Not only that, but it’s a happy hippy van as well, after it’s Awakening, and the time Joss took to make friends with the spirit. Some Theurges just don’t understand – the way to get the spirits to come to your aid more often without resorting to force and trickery is to simply befriend them. Talk to them. Listen to their stories.
Joss is a very good listener. The van’s name is Althea.
Which brings us to this afternoon. At the packhouse, Joss had slipped sideways to gather all the metal pieces and amour that they’ve collected off recent kills, and stacked them into the van. She’d left them umbral for a reason after their cleansing – and now that the Althea is awakened, she can haul things umbrally for the smallish godi. Which is good, because these metal sheets from the Thresher are HEAVY. One piece remains at the packhouse, requested by Decker. The rest are her’s to do with what she wants.
Once loaded, and Althea spoken too and laughed with, it’s back Realmside, where she drove the van to the Caern, through the gate, and parked down by the lake – while the warders just shook their head and sighed. The Godi is WEIRD.
Once Althea is parked, she slips umbral again, and gets to work. There’s a reason she’s collected all these metal pieces – an idea that began to form when Marrick spoke of scouting, and Joss wondered if hound dog spirits would do the trick. She wouldn’t want them unprotected, after all!
So she gets to work, and soon all that can be heard is the clanking and banging and otherwise noisy manipulation of the cleansed bane and thresher armor until it starts to form what she’s looking for…
[Joss Lehrer] (Dex+crafts diff 8 – again, according to Damon.)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 8 (Success x 1 at target 8) [WP]
[Joss Lehrer] (and again)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 4, 5, 6 (Failure at target 8)
[Joss Lehrer] (poor Godi. still working!)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 4, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 1 at target 8)
[Joss Lehrer] She’s been working for hours. She’s smashed her fingers twice, she pinched her thigh once so hard it bled and bruised, and yet she still keeps at it. And at it. And at it.
No once can say she’s not once determined little Godi.
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 8, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 8) [WP]
[Joss Lehrer] Finally, after a couple of days of working on this little project, and an extra long session today, it finally all comes together, and two little suits are completed. Each strong enough to add just a bit more protection to the spirit she’ll bind do them.
( total of 8 suxx for 2 suits = +2 to spirits soak on each.)
(and also, adorable.)
[Joss Lehrer] Finally, it’s time to summon. She kneels by the two little suits, sliding her skirts up to bare her thighs, and begins to tap out the beat.
(Spirit Drum – dex+performance diff 5)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5) Re-rolls: 1
[Joss Lehrer] Once the rhythm is found, breathed, steady – she centers herself and sends forth the call…
(summoning: wits+rituals+sd=11 diff 5 for jagglings.)
Dice Rolled:[ 11 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 5)
[Marrick Fisher] Boy was around here somewhere. True to form, he hadn’t really left her side since they’d had their spat, but unlike other ahroun-and-philodox combos, they were sitting around silently resenting each other because of it. The Fury had come to the caern to get some time to think. It was something to think about to say the least. She inhaled, and kept on walking.
Overall? It was a good day.
[Joss Lehrer] They come. They ALWAYS come. She has taken the time to befriend them, to know them, to LEARN from them, to LISTEN… and they come. Dog spirits, eager as puppies, suddenly surround the Godi, eager for a pat a scratch a laughing romp by the lake. Joss indulges their exuberance for a few minutes, before she signals to two of them, and puts forth her request.
She needs scouts, she needs umbral scouts and sneaky puppies to gather information, and they are just the dogs to do it. She shows them the suits of armor, and begins to bargain with them, while she is near beat to death with their spirit tail and puppy breath…
[Joss Lehrer] (binding – please do good please do good! WP vs dog gnosis of 5)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 3, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 5) [WP]
[Joss Lehrer] Two of them are eager, so eager, they near jump into the 2 suits of armour and try them on for size, prancing about in their new, strong home, while Joss watches, and laughs softly at their antics.
It had worked. It really worked.
(Suxx x 3 = 3 weeks of puppy scouting!)
[Marrick Fisher] The approach was cautious at first. She looked at the puppies, and Marrick perked up. Blue eyes wide and a little grin crossed her face. She didn’t squeal, it might frighten them or upset them in some way. But, this said, there was something to be said about the heart of a young girl and their attraction to things that were cute and shiny.
[Joss Lehrer] She looks up as Marrick comes closer, and her smile is happy, content – PLEASED. “Come see!” She waves her over, while the other dog spirits that had come to her call catch a scent and wander off, leaving with just her two armor-clad ones.
“You gave me the idea. You mentioned scouts, the night we spoke of something bigger going on, something worse, and then I got all this bane armor and armor from the Thresher we killed, and it just all fell into place. This will help protect them, and we can see if they sniff out any activity umbral that we should know about. They’re good hound dogs – they’ll catch a scent and bring the information right back to us, won’t you boys…”
The ‘boys’ nearly wag their whole selves, not just their tails, in agreement.
[Marrick Fisher] She looked at the dogs, the spirits, and she absolutely beams.
“I love it. This is perfect, Joss! Who better to follow a train than hound dogs? Changes in the umbra could mean changes on the physical plane so… gawd, Joss, you really are the best,” she was definitely pleased. Obviously so.
[Joss Lehrer] She grins, and pushes her dreads back, and nods. “They’ll do so well! And I’ll make sure they know to look for Althea if you or I aren’t umbral, because I’m sure to be close by, and they can wait there for me.”
Althea? “Althea’s my van.” she gestures to the side where the her van is visible, due to the awakening of the spirit within.
“So – which direction do you want me to send them in first?”
[Marrick Fisher] “Althea?”
Althea’s my van.
“Oh, right,” she said with a nod.
She pauses for a second and takes some time to think about this, “areas that aren’t already protected. North side’s moot point, because the Eagles seem to have all that under wraps. So, southside. Up to the Mile, or whatever part of town that is. No one seems t’be watchin’ Chinatown too close, either.”
[Joss Lehrer] She smiles, and nods, and calls the dogs closer, and gets their attention. “You know what to do. Watch and Report. Southside. Alright?”
and her voice takes on the tone of command. “Watch and Report.”
(Command Spirit – char+leadership diff 5)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 3, 4, 6, 6 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[Joss Lehrer] And with that, the two armor clad hound dogs weave about the Godi, and the Ahroun Elder, before taking off toward Southside, to see what can be seen.
“There. They’ll come back when they find something to report.”
[Marrick Fisher] There was a pause, and then?
“How do you do that?”
[Joss Lehrer] “Hm? Do what, command them?” She smiles and stands finally, shaking out the dust from her skirts, and surveying the remaining metals and such. She starts to stack them in a neater pile off to the side, for use later.
“It’s a gift, taught by an Incarna. I learned it shortly after achieving Fostern.”
[Boy] Not letting you out of my sight! Boy had barked hoarsely at her. But of course the things we say in anger aren’t always what we mean. They’re just what we feel, and often there’s too much anger colouring it to be completely practical.
Its not physically possible for Boy to never let his sister out of his sight. That might have been how he felt that night, but what he really meant was ‘I’m going with you. Everywhere.’
And so it is that he approaches the duo of Auspice elders in his wolf form, curious brown eyes sniffing at the armor clad hounds as they rush off as ordered, and scampering out of their way as they do. The grey and brown wolf strides up to them silently and sits.
And at some point, there is no longer a wolf, but a Boy instead. He squats there, sitting on his heels and occasionally touching at the ground to keep his balance. But he doesn’t speak or interrupt, except for a nod given to Joss in greeting.
[Schala] Mind if I come out to play?
to Boy, Joss Lehrer, Marrick Fisher
[Marrick Fisher] “Freaking awesome,” she said… then paused, “hey, you should talk to Doodle. He… well, he might need someone to talk to sometimes. He’s a solid little dude. Needs to eat more though.”
She pauses and looks over at Boy, “wouldn’t you say he needs to eat more?”
[Boy] “More meat.” He says, bringing his thumb to his lips and nibbling at his nails. “I think all he eats is donuts. I used to be like that, remember?”
[Joss Lehrer] She had smiled at Boy when he joined, though he remained quiet, and continued to pick up the little bits and pieces, cleaning up her mess.
“Doodle?” She smiles. “Of course, I’d be happy to meet and talk with him, anytime. Is he a new packmate of yours?”
[Joss Lehrer] (I don’t mind – they’re umbral at the caern. If Schala knows where that is/has been there, you’re more than welcome to join. Scene’s open.)
to Boy, Marrick Fisher, Schala
[Marrick Fisher] “Yeah, but then you subsisted offa doughnuts an’ tater tot casserole,” she said. Then nodded to Joss, “an’ yeah. He’s gonna be a packmate soon.”
[Schala] Schala walked through the Umbra towards the caern. She had been meaning to come here, but new and shiny things had been distracting her. Like a ferret in a room with bright colors, her mind was easily captivated. Like for instance, the idea of being able to make an umbral skateboard to do grinds and skating along Web strands had been entertaining her for the last half hour.
As she neared the edge of the territories, she realized it might be prudent to howl…assuming her natural form, the still rather squat Crinos began to howl her introduction for as long as she could hold it…usually she would just fax or send a tele IM to the locals in the area but this wasn’t exactly bleeding edge or strictly a G-Dub Caern. She iddn’t need to step on toes.
[Joss Lehrer] “Few things are better than tater tot casserole. You guys are lucky though – Wendy is a fine cook! The roast she made for us was delicious.”
She smiles, and nods, pleased that they’ll have a new packmate. “I’m glad to see La Familia gaining members and strength.”
[Boy] Boy seems to grumble unintelligibly, putting his hands down from his mouth and touching the ground with either hand.
“Mm. One more test though.”
And he looks up at Marrick. “From you, I was thinking. But…he’s practically in already. Callie…” His shoulders come up in a rolling motion that ‘might’ have been a shrug. And at the same time the sound of a howl creeps toward them. Boy turns to the distant border of the caern. He still doesn’t stand.
[Joss Lehrer] She turns her head toward the howl, and listens. The guardians will find the new one and bring them farther in.
“Testing your recruits is wise. What is Doodle’s moon?”
[Marrick Fisher] “I’ll have tests,” she said. There was a solid nod with that, “I can talk to you about that later, though… ‘cus… yeah. He’s a crescent moon. Callie’s a ragabash.”
At that moment, something seemed to catch Marrick’s attention. She paused for a second.
“Sorry, y’all, you gotta excuse me fer a few.”
[Marrick Fisher] (sorry loves, GTG!)
[Schala] After a series of brief but direct questions, the metis is allowed to pass. She trudges around, exploring before she starts to come towards the area where Boy, Joss, and Marrick are at. She hasn’t shifted back to homid form, her Crinos form just barely reaching to 6’5″. For human height, it would seem tall unless one thought that most Crinos usually stood close to 7 and 8 foot in height. Her fur pattern amazingly enough has streaks of bright blue along dark fur patterns…the Walker born having no discernible trace to wolf lineage anymore. She paused, even standing taller then the other two, her posture and body language started to flare omega signals.
~HT~ Hello.
[Boy] Boy watches closely as Marrick walks away, but doesn’t get up to follow. He was confident that she wouldn’t go too far without him.
“Crescent moon. Yeah. Clever little guy too. He’s already beefed up the security at the house, and he passed his first test with ease. But…we have to know he can hack it physically, y’know?”
There was the sound of someone approaching, followed by the growls and grunts of the high tongue. Boy turned to it and this time he stands, seeing the crinos in front of them.
“Hello” He answers back, and his head cants to one side, then the the next. Curious brown eyes stare intently at the figure before him, not sure what to make of the small crinos with blue streaks of fur.
[Joss Lehrer] “Then I look forward to meeting him myself. We’ve a gathering soon. I’ll be sure to let you know when it is.” She smiles at Boy.
Schala walks up then, and Joss turns to face the Crinos from. Even in homid, breeding and rank bleed from the slender Godi, her youth encompassed by experience and strength in her moon, her tribe.
“Hello, there.”
[Schala] The blue furred werewolf shifted some, dewclaws scraping the umbral concrete before slowly fur began to shimmer…the body began to contort. Schala was soon in homid form, the bright blue hair being the only trace of the Crinos…her height bringing her severely beneath the other two next to her. She reaches up self consciously to slide the strands of her hair back from her face.
“I’m Schala…nice to meet you.”
[Boy] “Schala…” Boy says slowly, as if his tongue and mouth were getting used to the word. “Was it you who howled to the guardians a while ago?”
She was small now. Smaller. Tiny, in fact. Boy crouches again, resting on his ankles as he continues analyzing the newcomer unabashedly.
[Joss Lehrer] She finishes her pile of scrap metal, and smiles at Schala. “I’m Joss.” A beat, and she slides into full introduction. “Joss Lehrer, Fostern Godi of the Fenrir, Eagle and Theurge Elder for the Sept of Maelstrom. It’s nice to meet you.”
She’s smiling still, which is shocking, perhaps, when one considers her Tribe. Those who know her though, have gotten used to it. Sort of.
Even so, it’s clear she’d like a full introduction from the small blue haired girl as well.
[Schala] She nodded to Boy, noticing him staring…she almost wanted to ask if something was on her face but thought better of it as she finds her attention taken by Joss for a moment.
“Oh…um…okay…yeah. I’m Schala…most call me SC. Theurge…Cliath…Metis…part of the G-Double-U. No pack, no prior sept.”
She pauses, considering…almost sighing.
“…SC is short for Short Circuit.”
She sticks her hands into her baggy jeans, having an issue with fidgeting it seemed.
[Boy] Boy’s brow furrowed, as Schala introduced herself…sort of. He appeared to be about to say something, opening his mouth to speak, but thought better of it. He gives a glance to Joss before looking back to the metis.
“I’m Boy. Called ‘Brother of the Lost’ by the nation. Cliath Half-Moon of the Uktena Tribe. Alpha of La Familia.”
[Joss Lehrer] “Ah, another new theurge. Good! tell me, Schala, what brings you to Chicago and Maelstrom? I’m sure the guardian’s explained the Sacrifice to you, yes?”
She seems genuinely pleased, as she settles to the ground again, kneeling by her little pile of scrap metal. She pushes her dreads back from her face, letting them fall heavily down her back, where the umbral breeze – ever present here, as it is in all of Chicago – tugs at the feathers and edges of string bound within the dreads.
She pauses then, and shares a look for boy, then turns her attention back to Schala. “And why is it you sigh when giving your Deed Name, Short Circuit?”
[Schala] “Yeah…they told me. I’ll likely come do it tomorrow night. As far as why here? Well…the tribe really had no where to send me off to again…so I was left to do my own thing. One of the guys who use to operate under me suggested the Windy City. I should kick him in the butt though cause he should have told me so cold it is here.”
“Aaaaghhh…”
She puts her fingers to her hair…fingers erractically rubbing the hair everywhere for a moment as she groaned.
“One of the Ragas at the caern I was doing my Rite of Passage thought it was his ‘eternal’ running joke…he always liked to call me half-pint, midget, and any height joke he could come up with. The elders didn’t have a problem with it cause they wanted me out of there…it was my third time through my Passage.”
[Boy] “Oh!” he says suddenly brightly, and something in his face softens as he regards Schala again. “I get it. Hm. Three times, huh?”
[Joss Lehrer] She tips her head, slightly, and smiles.
“So why let him get the best of you? Every time you say your name like that – you give him power over you. Claim your name for yourself. Say it with pride and make it mean something to the nation – something other than the joke you feel it is.” she pauses and gestures around, idly. “None here would know what lays behind the name – You have told us by your sighs that it bothers you, and so we question. Lay claim to it, and make it what you want it to be. In the end, words only hold the power you give them.”
[Schala] “Mmm..I’ll stick to SC for now.”
She gives a slight smile, nodding to Boy.
“Yeah…first one, my lungs seized when we chased down a fomori…the other I got hit by a car while in homid skin and well…my body doesn’t take injury well. The third I was finally given a test that just involved my auspice…”
She was about to say something sooner but then the level up sound from Final Fantasy 7 started to begin to ring. She looked down, pulling out her cell…
“…shit…I forgot about this. Hey…um…it was nice meeting you both…but I gotta go. Conference with former Burrow members.”
[Boy] “Alright then SC. We–uh…” And rather abruptly Schala excuses herself. Boy only nods to her, a single hand coming up as a wave.
“Good meeting you.”
[Joss Lehrer] She arches a brow slightly, but doesn’t say anything further, biting back her comment, to watch Schala as she walks away.
Joss rubs her temple lightly with fingertips, mutters something intelligible, before she takes a breath and looks up again. “Interesting.”
[Schala] And off she goes!
[Boy] “What does she mean…her lungs seized?”
Boy was looking at Schala as she left, but with the question asked he looked up at Joss. Perhaps it was a theurge thing.
[Joss Lehrer] She shakes her head slightly. “I don’t know. It could be a metis deformity. She also said her body doesn’t take damage well. This may not be the Sept for her, if that’s the case.”
Her chuckle is dry, barely amused, really – this Sept does seem to see more than it’s share of battles and loss. She has just performed the Gathering for another member this week. It’s disheartening. “Although, she may have strengths she’s yet to discover. If she doesn’t get over her naming, though, it will never happen.
[Boy] “Hm.” Boy grunts, and his eyes seem to wander. “Maybe…Hey…can I talk to you about something? I have this idea. Well, we have this idea, Marrick and I.”
[Joss Lehrer] She smiles at Boy, and pulls her knees up, smoothing her skirts down before wrapping her arms around them and hugging them to her chest. “Of course, Boy. What’s on your mind?”
[Boy] “Marrick wanted to see the Packs in action. She wanted to know their strengths an their weaknesses so she could know who would be right for which job.”
He sighs sharply.
“That didn’t exactly work out. So now we’re thinking of having a sort of…game. Something the whole sept will have to play. We’ll provide each member with a token, something small that they can keep on their person. And they have to keep it safe for a moon. However, we’ll also have to give them some kind of incentive for collecting other tokens. I figure that way we’ll see who can defend the best. Who’s best at taking and seizing. Maybe even who’s best at trickery and using their heads instead of their brawn. And we’ll see where the holes are in our overall security and readiness. We’ll see the things we’ll have to fix.”
Boy pauses, thinking as if he wasn’t quite sure whether or not he’d gone over all of it. In the end he nods to himself and looks up to Joss.
“What do you think?”
[Joss Lehrer] She listens, watching boy and the way he speak, gleening more than just the words from his story. She well knows the difficulties that Marrick has had getting the packs to work with her, and the walls she’s faced on every turn. They’ve spoken of it often.
Some consider Joss wise. Other’s consider her quite freakin insane. Whatever she is, she is sometimes even right.
“I like the idea – you know me, I’m always down for a game! I’m not sure how some of the others will respond. You know the stick in the mud’s like the Unbroken, who see themselves as above such joyful expressions. They’ve forgotten how to have fun, and what place it has in daily life – training doesn’t always have to be awful. I think how it’s presented would be the key to getting them to participate. Perhaps even going through the Grand Elder himself – they may still grumble, but they wouldn’t disobey a direct order from Balance without Fault.”
She nods, and smiles. “I do like the idea, though. How things conclude can tell a lot about the holders of the Tokens.”
[Boy] “Right, right.” He nods at her opinion, fingers coming up again to touch at his lips, and rake his fingers through his hair. “We probably won’t call it a game, y’know? Call it…I dunno. Practice? Or…a simulation. And…yeah. If it came from the Grand Elder…Hrm. You guys are advisors. Maybe…maybe if I run it by Judgement of Sterling Silver -Rhya? And I figure…we’ll need some help from the spirits. Maybe bind something to the tokens so they can’t be faked or something.”
[Joss Lehrer] She nods. “Evan is a good man – and I’m not just saying that because he’s my packmate. He’s helped me many times before, and I’m sure he’d have some helpful hints as well. And as he’s acting Master of Challenges, perhaps he can put it forth as a challenge to the whole Sept.”
She smiles, she clearly loves this idea. “I’d be happy to help with the spirits, binding them to the tokens.”
[Boy] “Yeah. Yeah, this is…this is something good.” He stands, uncurling himself with ease despite having been down there for longer than any person’s body should.
“I should go make some tokens then.” There’s…something on his face. Its not quite a smirk and certainly not a grin. its probably the closest thing to a smile anyone outside of their packhouse has ever seen on him.
“I should go find Marrick first though. Thanks for talking, -Rhya. As usual, you’ve been a big help.”
[Joss Lehrer] She smiles as he stands, and stands herself. “You’re welcome, Boy. It’s always a pleasure. Say hello to Wendy for me, alright?” A beat, and then “Oh, and I’d like to meet Doodle soon too. Send him to find me, alright?”
She waves then, and makes sure her pile is all together and out of the way, and then heads to join Althea, talking to her briefly before she heads to the other side, and home.