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Patrick walks over as he sees Eligio coming, trying to intercept the
Uktena elder as he approaches.
Eligio Sacateca slips through the water like he had gills, help Therru
to make the long swim to the island, were she to need help.
Dana looks mildly chastened at Patrick's words. "Oh," she says, looking
over hurriedly as more newcomers come in, and asks before her courage
fails her completely, "Is there...anything I can do, to help, while
you're gone?"
Cassandra slides down the trunk to sit at its base, and calls to Dana.
"Yeah. Stay outta trouble."
Therru follows her elder, nose arrowing through the water like a rather
slow otter. Upon reaching land, she makes sure that she is at a good
distance from everyone else before shaking off.
Andrea offers her hand to take it. Her voice is low. "Will the wind
bring us any more of yours, or could none others be spared?"
Eligio Sacateca, noting Patrick's approach, stops and waits for the
other Uktena to close the distance between them as he finishes
dressing.
Patrick slips up to Eligio and says something to him softly.
Sepdet shakes her head. ~Reluctantly--I think not. Whispers is staying
to guard.~ She holds out the leaf-wrapped bundle. ~But sent a few
gifts. There wasn't time for more.~
Andrea nods. "I understand." She opens the bundle to look at the talens,
holding them carefully.
Dana gives Cassandra a weak grin, nodding to her, then finally falls
completely silent, hugging her knees to her chest balanced on her
boulder perch and fading unobstrusively into the background to simply
watch.
Two snail spirits have kindly let Joseph and Sepdet borrow their powers
to cling tight and to hunker down when a much stronger force tries to
dislodge them. When the shells are crushed, they will provide extra
protection and grounding against physical and mental battering for one
scene. ie raise stamina and WP for purposes of defense.
Eligio Sacateca frowns, slightly, at Patrick's words. His brows narrow
as he considers something.
Sepdet explains softly, ~Snail is for holding fast, against things that
try to shake her loose. The spirits should help a little to steady
whoever's carrying them, when you break the shells. I had some
problems with wyld-magic, last time Whispers went far out.~
Patrick shrugs back at Eligio and replies in the same tone.
Eligio Sacateca snorts.
Andrea nods. She studies the small shells and says, "I can't take both.
Choose who should carry the other, moonsister."
Sepdet purses her lips, lets her eyes half-close and scans the small
gathering thoughtfully.
Karl arrives from the west, coming from the stately grove.
Anna arrives from the west, coming from the stately grove.
Gareth arrives from the west, coming from the stately grove.
Sepdet grins faintly. ~Let it be Cassandra. Uktena are stubborn enough
as it is.~
Andrea nods in satisfaction as the gather becomes no-so-small. She bends
down to pick up a small iron pot and clip it awkardly to the other
side of her belt, with her free hand. Touch Deer draws up behind the
group, making the gathering complete..
Cassandra snorts, but jumps to her feet as the gathering grows and
accepts the talen with a sheepish grin. "Thanks. I must not be a bitch
yet. Gonna have to work on that."
Patrick nods at Eligio's observation, then heads up to join the rest.
Dana is perched on a small boulder far from the concentration of Garou,
her stillness and distance an attempt to stay out of everyone's
attention, and keep it that way.
Cyllan clambers up into the clearing and stops. When she sees Therru,
her expression breaks into a wider smile, and she moves to stand with
her packmates.
Andrea grins a little. "Would it make you feel better if I said you were
always a bitch to me?" She tucks the other talen in her pouch.
Tastes-Ashes pads up after Serves-Honor and snorts a bit at the large
number of assembled garou.
Therru, half hidden behind Eligio, gives a hesitant wave of her tail at
Cyllan.
Serves-Honor pages to Andrea, Tastes-Ashes, and Karl: Well, only half of
Gaia's Shield is coming.
Karl walks in just behind Tastes-Ashes, in homid as usual.
Cassandra grins hugely. "But you put up with it, so you don't count."
Sepdet relaxes a little at the pack-banter, looking about as lonely as
any Strider ever looks in a large group of people many of whom she
knows well.
Serves-Honor enters with his packmate, following at her heels.
Eligio Sacateca smiles reassuringly at Therru and approaches Andrea, at
Patrick's heels, moving with long strides. "Quiet-yuf," he says. "Are
we all here?"
Andrea chuckles. She then turns to the group as a whole. "Thank you,
all, for coming." She then nods at Eligio. "I think so. This is all
that could be spared at such a time. And we have the strength we
need."
Down on the promontory, Karen Smith climbs up the promontory to the
cliffs.
Pack> Cassandra's thought echoes across the link, "Here but not all
there. Let's blow this taco stand."
Karl looks around at the various people, several of whom he doesn't
know.
Andrea looks to Anna. She motions to Karl, "He runs with your pack in
this?" Andrea nods. She says firmly, "The moon is not growing thicker for
our waiting." She turns to Dana and ducks her head. "Dana, we must leave
now. Stay here, until she comes."
Serves-Honor looks at the human in surprise when Andrea speaks to her,
noticing her for the first time. Until who comes?
Andrea says briefly, "Her teacher."
Sepdet turns northeast, whispers a soft prayer, and begins to hum a
travelling mantra, trying to keep it soft so as not to irritate anyone
else. A ghost of a smile flickers across her face at the Ritemistress'
simple explanation.
Dana blushes in the darkness as attention is suddenly brought to her,
and she nods to Andrea quickly. "I will, Andrea. Thank you. May the
Mother shelter you."
Serves-Honor was aware the woman was kin, but not that she had come to
participate so fully in her heritage. That is...good.
Pack> Patrick whistles innocently via TeleJade.
Cassandra snorts at something, though what is unclear.
Andrea leaves the situation for Scott to explain, only nodding. She then
turns to lead the way back to the grove, and a small pool. Slipping
easily across the gauntlet, she waits for the others.
Cyllan glances at Dana, then shrugs. Most of her attention is focused on
her packmates.
Cassandra seems glad enough to follow Andrea's lead, turning quickly,
though she is slower than her packmate to cross the Gauntlet.
Eligio Sacateca waits for most of Andrea's pack to follow her before
slipping through himself.
Karl crosses the Gauntlet along with the others.
Tastes-Ashes glances towards Serves-Honor and chuffs. Are you ready for
this? she asks as she slips through the Gauntlet. Cyllan follows close
behind Gaia's Shield, smiling at Therru and Eligio as the curtain
parts for her.
Serves-Honor follows Tastes-Ashes through the Gauntlet. He always stands
ready.
Andrea waits until all have again gathered, after the crossing. Though
not as safe as the caern umbra, the daughter of Uktena displays little
more tension on the island so far in the heart of her pack's
territory. ~Before we leave, I felt it best if all knew the packs.~
She motions to the Get athro. ~Karl runs at this time with Gaia's
Shield.~ She motions at Gauntlet, ~The Children of Owl fly together.
As for Sepdet, she will run under my pack, in the absence of her own.
Though we are then three, we are one. Our lives depend on each other.~
Karl eyes the children of Owl as they cross into the Umbra, his
attention focussed particularly on their wings.
Sepdet keeps inobtrusively close to Patrick and Quiet, relaxing as her
shadow fades out and her "real" world snaps back into focus. She
bounces on the balls of her feet, the much-repressed Strider's
instinct putting an extra gleam to her eye as she waits for the
quest-leader's words.
Cyllan reaches her wings outwards to their full expanse, then settles
them back down with a flick of her shoulders. The ghostly shadows fold
neatly as she nods formally to Andrea. Tastes-Ashes glances across the
landscape and chuffs to Serves-Honor. Does Sebastian join us? Have you
seen him?
Therru shadows Cyllan and Eligio, waiting for them to cross before she
follows.
Andrea herself turns to stare out into the shadows. She seems to be
waiting for something. The dim moonlight plays on the dark shimmering
that surrounds her, and all her packmates.
Sliding smoothly out of the darkness around Ouroboros comes a largish
serpent spirit, its scales shimmering, mostly with shades of greens
and yellows. *You gather a large crowd,* comes the soft voice.
You paged Eligio Sacateca with 'In case you disconnect before we plan,
when's the next good time for you?'.
One corner of Cassandra's mouth twitches up in a smile at seeing Jade,
and she folds her arms across her chest, one foot tapping.
Serves-Honor spoke to him this morning, upon returning. He believes the
spirit will accompany us, but he does not know when he...no, wait. He
is arriving now.
Andrea smiles faintly. *The more to follow you, my dear. Are you ready
to take us?*
Cyllan's face breaks into a large smile as she sees the shimmering
spirit form. Instinctivly she looks around for Nightwings, then tilts
her head towards Eligio to see if her Alpha can tell her of their
totem.
Tastes-Ashes turns to look for her own totem, and her tail comes up
happily.
Cassandra murmurs, smiling, "So Happy Hour has begun..."
Serves-Honor is, in fact, correct: the sound of hoofbeats procedes the
appearance of Gaia's Shield's totem avatar's arrival. The buffalo, an
even larger representation of an animal which is large to begin with,
clatters from a trot to walk, and then halts beside Serves-Honor and
Tastes-Ashes.
Eligio Sacateca does not react visibly at the appearance of the totem.
Well, not more than a little impressed. To Cyllan he only shrugs as if
not overly concerned. ~He will follow; he gave no indication that he
would come or not, though he took the offerings.~
Therru's wings flutter upward nervously before she tucks them down and
half-hides behind them.
Jade slips in and out between the pack members of Ouroboros, never
seeming to stay still for long before any of them. At one point or
another along her movement, she seems to look at each and every member
of the group. *I can take you. You choose a dangerous time to go. I
can take you my way, through the dark of the Hidden World. They must
stay close, or be lost.*
Sepdet watches the spirits comfortably, her own wind's partial presence
a faint shifting the umbra's currents around her, pushing insistently
west. She whispers something to it again, sending a quiet goodbye to
those she leaves behind.
Andrea nods. She translates for the others.
Tastes-Ashes bumps up against the totem, looking almost lost against the
spirit. She is ready to go.
Andrea then shifts to a travelling form. The items at her belt meld into
her yellow fur.
Cassandra shrugs at that, her smile fading, although she doesn't make a
comment. She, too, shifts to a travelling form, her ears perking up
immediately as she completes the transformation.
Cassandra contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
Cassandra shifts into Lupus form.
Pack> Quiet says dryly, "Why do I get nervous when she says we won't
like the way?"
Pack> Mark-Of-Thorns says "You mean it's gonna be the most fucked up
thing we've done yet."
Pack> Patrick says "That works as a definition."
Karl contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Karl shifts into Lupus form.
Quiet chuffs a sharp amused sound at something, glancing at her
packmates.
Random location(#3155RJ)
A path, somewhat silvery, leads onwards through darkness, wide enough to
drive a small wagon down. There are no edges to prevent falls into the
endless depths, and there are holes and odd tears in the road large
enough to fall through; odd lights flare up and die down at random
intervals, little flashes of light against the road itself or in the
air and darkness around you.
As Sepdet whispers to the wind around her, there is a ruffling along her
body and then the wind vanishes.
The Uktena spirit begins moving through the Penumbra, though almost
immediately the Umbra around it grows wilder and less like the Umbra
known around the Washington area: older trees, more of them, and
wilder underbrush past which the spirit picks its way.
Quiet stays close on the spirit's tail, as ordered. Her pack lopes tight
on her heels.
Cyllan remains in her human form, wings beating silently but swiftly as
she moves with the group. In the absence of Su, she moves to the lead
of her pack, taking point. Tastes-Ashes runs low, almost in the shadow
of Sebastien, but close to the rest of the group.
Sepdet seems unperturbed as Kshema heads back to its proper place at the
caern, and falls into a ground-eating jog on bare calloused feet near
the front with Ouroboros. She peers half-focussed to either side and
towards the road ahead, letting instincts take over.
Serves-Honor stays with the rest of the group for now, trailing to the
rear and watching for stragglers.
Runs-In-Shadows allows himself to fall to the back, even behind
Serves-Honor.
Therru's ear pricks up and her paws row the air with silent exuberance
as she follows Eligio and Cyllan with strong wingstrokes - as though
she'd go almost anywhere for the mere love of flying.
Eligio Sacateca glides silently and swiftly through the Umbral night,
illuminated only by the sliver of moon cutting through the darkness,
like an arrow given the power to control its own direction once it has
left the bow.
The spirit's path seems to wind back and forth, changing directions
sometimes without any notice. The trees and bushes fade away, replaced
by a mist through which sudden visions of landscapes are visible. It
takes long hours of travel before the mists clear into a darkness, and
Jade comes to a halt on a moonpath.
Quiet takes two steps forward. She then looks sideways at the totem
jaggling, tilting her head in question. *Down this path?*
Jade looks back at Andrea, then the group, then back at the Gaian.
*Sometimes the best secret is the one in plain sight,* she replies,
and the tone seems almost amused, though it's difficult to tell with a
serpent. *Do not leave it. You travel through my realms now. I will be
behind, before, and to the side.*
Sepdet mutters under her breath, ~Just so long as she's kind enough to
leave a road under our feet.~
Quiet splays her ears slightly, the wearing of the tension of the odd
journey showing in the slight jerkness of the normally-smooth motion.
*A circle.* She then turns to the others. ~This is the path. Do not
stray. We go into the wild places.~
Eligio Sacateca, in response to Quiet's words, draws his pack in tighter
to the path though they do not yet alight, choosing to remain aloft
for now.
Tastes-Ashes, and Serves-Honor also draw closer together, running just
in front of their totem now.
Quiet steps first on the path, under the shadow of the winged pack.
Touch Deer takes up the back of the pack, as rear guard. The following
of the other ahroun, as well as the massive Buffalo spirit, puts him
more in the middle of the group pack.
Runs-In-Shadows trails along behind Sebastian, eyes on the spirit in
front of him.
Hours more of running, perhaps with resting, the group suddenly sees,
off the the left of the moonpath, an expanse of gleaming gold and
silver, like a large forest of golden trees beyond the darkness.
Sepdet flashes a sidelong grin down at Cassandra like a kid at the
beach, though tribe lessons and her own grim experiences have taught
her all too well the need for caution out here on the edge of the
world. Wariness doesn't seem to cancel out wonder, for her.
Cyllan watches everything, eyes wide.
Mark-Of-Thorns looks up, and whuffs at Sepdet, her tail up in a happy if
somewhat wary position. She quickly returns her attention to the trail
ahead.
Quiet notices the area, her ears flicking forward in natural curiosity.
She doesn't seem inclined to deviate off the path to check it out.
Indeed, one of the odd flickering lights further along down the path
soon distracts her attention from the side forest. The theurge presses
on.
The trees vanish, replaced by, far at the edge of sight, a grey wall
stretching across the distance, up and down and left and right,
curving around as far as the eye can see.
Cyllan looks upwards curiously, then towards Eligio.
Eligio Sacateca seems less than thrilled by the prospect of being walled
over, even though the structure seems so far away. Nevertheless, he
continues to maintain pace with Andrea's pack, not straying from the
pack.
Quiet says, ~And so we find the world is flat. That's our first goal.
The membrane between this realm and the next. We must reach it, and
find an anchorhead along its length.~
Therru pauses in the air to stare briefly towards the wall, wings rowing
steadily. Then she leaps guiltily after her pack, taking her place
again in the their formation.
The group reaches the wall at last, a wall that seems strangely
insubstantial to look at but is undoubtedly solid to the touch, and
cold, extremely cold.
Quiet shivers her ruff. She glances left and right, apparently
determining which way to lead.
Sepdet hums softly. ~Looks like a tribe elder meeting,~ she notes,
closing her eyes and resting a hand lightly against the surface as the
group gathers.
Mark-Of-Thorns looks up at the wall, nosing at it and quickly drawing
back. Does the path lead through this?
Patrick snickers ant looks at Sepdet. "Rigid and supremely cold? Yeah, I
guess that image fits."
Runs-In-Shadows thinks that sounds like some Black Furies he's met.
Quiet answers. ~Not until we reach the anchorhead, and go through. Like
we did with the stone.~
Sepdet explains curtly, ~No, it's that sitting on the other side of the
door wondering when the heck they're going to let you get to the
food.~ She quiets down and looks back at the leader.
Pack> Quiet says through the link, "Heads or tails, left or right?"
Mark-Of-Thorns turns her head towards Karl at that, and bares her teeth.
One is only cold when she does not wear fur.
Runs-In-Shadows flicks an ear non-committally. As the group pauses to
decide what to do next, he sits back to wait.
Pack> Patrick says "Beats me. Wanna split up and go in both directions?
Though that sounds bad."
Pack> Quiet says firmly, "No. We go together."
Quiet stands for several long moments while the others catch their
breaths and touch the barrier. She then turns to the left, following
the wall.
Once again, a vision appears before the group - to the left of the path,
before them now - this time of pink clouds and faery-tale castles and
black creatures climbing on the spires, leaving slime behind.
Sepdet sighs absently at the distracting vision, but continues to
consider the wall.
Therru bounces off the wall like a distracted moth once before regarding
it with more respect.
Runs-In-Shadows follows silently along behind Gaia's Shield. Hence the
name.
Quiet slows, watching the vision. There is something there. Not to
sight, but underneath. The theurge angles the group slightly, to head
towards it. The moon-path had disappeared at the junction with the
wall.
The vision grows no closer despite the movement of the Garou towards it.
Quiet pauses, then reorients, using her othersense something like a
sonar guide. She again hugs the wall, slowing as the feeling gets
stronger.
Sepdet kneels and splays her hands against the ground at the base of the
wall where the path was leading, but only for a moment, not staying
long enough to be left behind. She doesn't really seem to be paying
attention to the surface itself, just testing for currents, like she
does in sweeping clean the Wheel umbraside.
As the travelers near the wall again, they see a bulge in it, the same
shimmering apparent insubstantiality disturbed by some sort of
movement beyond it.
Even the non-theurges can see this is the place. Quiet stops and says
with satisfaction: Here.
Patrick looks wryly at his packmate. "Really?"
Quiet flips her ears at her packmate and snorts.
Sepdet looks up at the tenuous patch of membrane, frowning. ~Looks thin
enough to push through with a good knock.~
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