Friday 5/12 Robin's arrival. Sepdet and Robin go searching for Joe
Sepdet veers out of the woods with a stone cupped in her palm. She seems to have gone punk elf with the spring, although the description would no doubt be lost on her.
Sepdet
No more than 4'9, this brown slip of a girl looks far younger than her eighteen eventful years, if not for the quiet intensity of her gaze. African features add sturdy planes to her oval face, now filling out to that of a young woman. Her clothes are as spare as her frame: a rough-cut tunic of undyed fawnskin that leaves midriff and shoulders bare, and tough black denim leggings that reach to mid-calf. She wears no shoes. Her hair, usually a demure and well-behaved cap of tiny cornrow braids, has been unleashed. It stands out from her shoulders in a wild unruly mane of black kinky waves A few hand-made pendants hang from her neck by a leather thong: a fish, ankh, and cartouche carved of wood, a tiny crescent blade, and a small beaded medicine wheel. A veritable roadmap of faint scars and travel callouses are only partially hidden by her clothes and the faded red bandana covering her forehead. Her soft alto voice dances in a subtle singsong, whether she's feigning the rough half-Arabic, half-street dialect of her cub days, or her more instinctive formal turns of phrase.
Carrying:
TarotDeck
Though it's hard to say why she keeps coming back, she does. She doesn't know anybody -- save three people, and she'd use the term loosely if she were to speak it -- and nobody knows who she is, but its an escape from a life less ordinary to a life *far* less ordinary, and even that much of a change is welcome. She moves like a predatory cat between the trees, looselimbed and sun-drunk. It's a beautiful day, and as far as she's concerned, there isn't a soul nearby worth caring about.
Sepdet gives a soft whistle. "Heya, Nora. Come out to take some time under the trees?" she asks, as if it were not once in a month or more since they have last coincided.
l nora
Well, surprise, surprise. She's not dead. Nope. As far as you can tell, she's alive. Hasn't changed much, either, as hard as is to believe. Still as gaunt as a hungry dog, full of many more angles than curves, marked with diluted eyes so blurred she seems more like a dazed animal than anything else -- unmistakable. This is Nora, all right.
Oh, certain things have changed. Her hair is longer, for one, falling in cascading waves around her long face, without bang and nearly reaching her waist; auburn as always, a diluted red either way. Her face is fuller, as well; and, for all accounts and purposes, so is her chest -- barring how you'd know, there is an unmistakable swelling, there, even if she's gotten around to buying a brand new, navy-blue tee. Beyond this she is lanky as ever; far too tall for her own good and then some. She's grown, even -- it's unsure if she'll hit 5'10 or beyond before she can finally buy jeans with any degree of certainty, but it's very likely. Such an awkward length makes clothes ill-fitting even at the right size. If you happen to glance it, a lyrical tattoo winds it's way around her jutting navel, curling like sunflares from her bellybutton but severed in two just beneath: a long, pink scar, not more than a year old, runs for a length of four or five inches. She'll try to hide it, but something like that is hard to miss. It reeks of tragedy, like perfume on a dead body.
There's something more, though. Something in the way she holds herself that suggests the words 'balance', perhaps; 'glue'. She's finally gotten around to buying herself knew clothes, yes -- new pair of jeans, new sneakers, a new dark blue jacket complete with hood -- but this isn't it. It's not in her expression, either; it seems that asking Nora to smile is akin to telling a tornado to wait a moment. Impossible, any way you look at it. It's there, though: maybe a roll of the shoulders, a tip of the chin, a dart of eyes as pale as a winter sky. Something. Age? Experience? Who knows. It's hard to tell, with someone like Nora.
It's something, though. Without a doubt, it's something.
A month indeed. Longer, in her world. Might as well have been a lifetime. When you're a mother or a teenager -- or both -- things change so fast... the voice is enough to halt her in her tracks, though. So she's hidden, concealed behind one of the broad-trunked trees. There's a moment of sticky silence, and then a question, unsure: "...Sepdet?"
"Now and then," Sepdet replies, as Nora calls her name queryingly. "I noticed you were away from town again."
Coda is walking up the lane, towards the farmhouse, apparantly coming from Kent's Crossing.
Robin has arrived.
The lane curves around the eastern side of the farmhouse back to the classic big red barn and its companion yard.
Robin looks you over.
Silence follows the vague reply, either subdued by it or trying to come up with a suitable response for the second question. "I --" she pauses, noticing Coda, and her words take a sudden change in course. "For a little while." She emerges from behind the tree, pressing herself close to the rough bark.
Sepdet detects the crunch of footsteps on the driveway and retreats casually into the shadow of the tree Nora just vacated, with the instinct of a hare taking cover.
l robin
There's a willful tilt of this woman's chin, a glint of determination behind her dark eyes that is a better indication of her heritage than any of her physical features. Still, she is quite clearly Native American in origin. The lines of her face and her form are angular, strong, her skin dusky with generations of sun. And so, the smooth coiffure of her hair, her clothing, even her subtle manicure contrasts broadly with the woman she could so easily have been two hundred years previous on this same land.
Currently she wears a pair of beige pants and a matching, squarish jacket of the same material. Beneath the jacket the collar of a linen blouse peeks out, the two top buttons undone. Her ebon hair is pulled back from her face at the sides and a mottled feather pierces the twist of hair diagonally. On her feet are a pair of dark brown leather loafers. And around her neck is a somewhat crudely fashioned, close-fitting, leather-strap neck-band.
Coda pauses, on her way into the farmhouse, to blink at Sepdet and her charge. Shaking her head, baffled, she steps up on the porch, and goes to the door.
From afar, to the room, Robin waits a few poses before posing arriving.
Sepdet relaxes as she spots Coda and gives a wave in her direction, but doesn't step out into view again. "How's Ishmael?" she asks Nora quietly.
Signe has arrived.
You paged the room with 'What a truly random collection of people. :)'.
From afar, to the room, Signe considers coming in IC. Wouldn't that be a HOOT.
Nora slithers slickly into the reply. Her eyes are anchored downward -- quite appropriately on Sepdet, but not sparing the other a glance either way. Shoulders tucked, muscles tight, now, she answers in low tones. "Hurt twice. But alive."
From afar, to the room, Coda snickers. Considering that I cam here for RP and got an IC cold shoulder, it'd be nice to have somebody who'd talk to me. :)
Coda climbs the three steps up to the front porch.
Coda has left.
Signe pages to the room: Woo! well, let me see what's going on, then maybe I'll pose.
Long distance to Coda: Sepdet only vanished until she saw it was Garou!
Long distance to Coda: Sepdet is hiding from humans. Though Nora is a difficult person to RP with. :}
Sepdet starts at Nora's reply and bares her teeth. "You need a safer place to stay." It's half a question, although her tone goes flat.]
She presses the heels of her palms together and looks away. "Safe and free don't mix, you know," she replies, her own tone flat and dry. Only when Coda is inside do her eyes lift, curiously.
The fairly sparse traffic on Sunrise Road makes the approaching sound of a car's motor that much more intrusive to the sound of the wind in the evergreens and the quiet conversation under the tree. The approaching vehicle slows as it nears the front drive and then a low slung, convertible Audi with the top down pulls into the driveway. The silver car eases to a stop and the woman behind the wheel cuts the motor. Robin's eyes are on the house rather than the almost out of sight women under the trees. Opening the car door, she steps out and lifts her hand to pull of her sunglasses. One more glance at a piece of paper in her hand -- which she throws back into her own seat -- and she's heading purposefully toward the front porch.
Sepdet considers that. "Rarely," she concedes. "But there are kin, who protest to me they're given nothing to do, no way to help--" she breaks off as the car approaches. This time, the Strider takes no chances, secreting herself further into the shadows with a muttered "Veil," the word spat like an oath or curse.
From afar, Robin notes that your desc looks like Sashi. :)
Long distance to Robin: Sepdet has given up using "Sashi" for my homiddesc, but is in fact homid.
Robin pages: Ah.
You paged Robin with 'However, with Sepdet's new duds, she doesn't need to be glabro to draw questions from mundanes. ;)'.
Long distance to Robin: Sepdet has one of Joe's old shirts with the bottom and sleeves cut off.
Robin pages: Makes sense.
Nora 's brow knits into tight little furrows above her eyes. "...kin." She repeats the word as if it were something disgusting. "...He's fine. He is. They were just acc--" cut off sharply by the car's approach and Sepdet's sudden outburst, she too retreats further against the tree, pressing the line of her body close against it as if she could be easily passed over as just an extension of the trunk.
Sepdet peers fixedly at Robin from the shadows, a very curious expression of hopeful doubt knitting her brow, although the frown from Nora's news sticks too. "Now who could that be?"
Robin moves up the steps to the porch, then, regarding the front door, she lifts her hand to rap smartly at it. The glasses are tucked into a pocket of her jacket.
Robin climbs the three steps up to the front porch.
Robin has left.
From afar, to Signe and Sepdet, Robin has a wp of 6. Cursey-schmursey.
Confused and a bit jarred, Nora's eyes follow Robin's movements. "...you don't know her?" The words are murmured, light from her lips. She's given the farmhouse all the space she can muster for a long time, now.
Sepdet keeps close watch, but having seen Coda disappear into the house not long ago, she lets the more 'mundane' Garou deal with the woman first. "I think I do," she says slowly. "But I need to be sure. I don't speak to humans much nowadays; they ask too many hard questions." There is a note of pain in the simple statement.
And a short burst of laughter follows, bitter tasting. "Tell me about it," she says, letting herself relax, now that she thinks (thinks) she's alone -- nearly -- again.
Pack> Joseph actually thinks she could use a dose of the city.
Pack> Sepdet says "Nah, it gives Coda a chance to come and get into RP, and Nora a little longer to worry her elder before I flee her for more relaxing RP. She's so messed up. :)"
Pack> Joseph chuckles. Yes, but I meant in a more general context. You could, I mean, spend more time in the city. See if the old /old/ Sepdet resurfaced. I'm not saying try and re-find the Renaissance Sepdet, but there were so many aspects of her that I liked. Couldn't hurt to rediscover some of them. And Lu will have a Gnawer soon.
Pack> Sepdet hmms. I wonder what was there that you liked? I thought i kept most of it, apart from the pickpocket and street waif bit. :)
Pack> Joseph says "that part. :) And just...I don't know. I suppose it's the same aspects, just Gnawer-ized. I have this image of Sepdet, from way back in her pre-ex-ren days, of her crawling through the sewers. She's so small, and I remember in those very early days Joe trying to keep up, and not being successful. Those days, remember, when Joe first met Chloe? Around the time when Sebek was here?"
Pack> Sepdet can't forget them, nope, though it's been a long time.
Pack> Sepdet still finds I don't get lost in the sewers, whereas the city's been regridded so it all looks unfamiliar. :)
Pack> Joseph smiles.
Still keeping an eye on the porch, Sepdet murmurs softly, "I will be Riting one of the other cubs soon. She's eager, but very young, and has no knowledge of scars. You take things seriously, because you must. Shall I send you with her?"
Long distance to Robin: Sepdet will give Nora a wee bit more elder-time before following you, unless Coda sends you out. :)
Robin pages: She might. :)
From afar, Robin's dark brown eyes settle upon Coda as she answers the door and she dips her head in a polite manner. Her formal tone contrasts mildly with the ease of her words, mellifluous at the least, though hardly modulated at all. "Good evening. I am Robin Chases. I was told to come here when I arrived and that someone would be willing to relay a message to Joseph Black Rabbit."
And Nora withdraws, immediately, pulling herself away. Her answer is quick: "No." and comes, really, before it seems she's aware of it. "Which cub? That baby, the one with the dark hair?"
Sepdet gives a soft sigh, and turns a sidelong look at Nora before replying, "Yes, Allie. Very young. Bright. Full of wonder. A pity you can't trade your gifts with one another."
"Young. Bright. Full of wonder." Nora echoes these words dully, as if chewing on an old piece of meat before looking back at Sepdet beneath half-lidded eyes. "Well, good thing you got her when you did. Or she'd be me in a few years? Hm?" She smooths her hair away from her forehead, looking up towards the high branches.
Sepdet says tiredly, "She needs to know what you know, before innocence gets her killed. But we need her stars, to keep the scars from growing over our eyes."
Pack> Sepdet ooo. A Sepism.
Nora's eyes crinkle as she looks down, again. She's confused. "She doesn't need to know what I know. Then she won't be worthwhile to you anymore. She'll get through it fine, won't she?"
And Nora withdraws, immediately, pulling herself away. Her answer is quick: "No." and comes, really, before it seems she's aware of it. "Which cub? That baby, the one with the dark hair?"
Sepdet gives a soft sigh, and turns a sidelong look at Nora before replying, "Yes, Allie. Very young. Bright. Full of wonder. A pity you can't trade your gifts with one another."
"Young. Bright. Full of wonder." Nora echoes these words dully, as if chewing on an old piece of meat before looking back at Sepdet beneath half-lidded eyes. "Well, good thing you got her when you did. Or she'd be me in a few years? Hm?" She smooths her hair away from her forehead, looking up towards the high branches.
Sepdet says tiredly, "She needs to know what you know, before innocence gets her killed. But we need her stars, to keep the scars from growing over our eyes.""
Layne walks out into the lane from the front porch.
Layne has arrived.
Layne approaches from the front porch of the farmhouse, and continues on down along the path that leads to the barnyard. It's uncertain whether she takes any real notice of the others in passing.
Layne continues down the lane, disappearing from sight as she moves around the house.
Layne has left.
You say "Where did you get the idea I don't need Striders just because they've gotten a few pieces knocked out of them? Collin's everywhere, but he _is_ a fool and always will be. Striders are survivors. That's us. That's you.""
Nora closes her eyes. She doesn't want to talk about this. "I know. I know." She pushes her hair behind her ear and takes another step away from the tree. "But I'm not ready."
Sepdet sighs. "I see that. And if you were Spider, I'd have to have culled you by now, because unrited cubs on the loose are just begging for the Wyrm to take notice of them and nab them. But you survive. And I tread a little of the road you've had to walk--a very little--enough to know that you will bleed and not break. So I'll wait, Nora. I want you to find your own way there."
Coda walks out into the lane from the front porch.
Coda has arrived.
Robin walks out into the lane from the front porch.
Robin has arrived.
Coda comes back from the farmhouse, with Robin in tow. She looks at where she last saw Sepdet and Nora, seeing if they're still there.
Sepdet is still lurking there, and she or Nora should be visible as silhouettes against the forest eaves, speaking in low voices.
Robin follows after Coda, matching the other woman's steps, half a pace behind her. She scans the yard and trees, at first missing the pair yet again.
Allie walks out into the lane from the front porch.
Allie has arrived.
Coda leads Robin right up to Sepdet. "This is Robin Chases. She's here to see Joseph, but since he's... unavailable, she said you're the next best thing."
Nora's title continues to haunt her. Now there's the threat of being killed, thrown into the mix for a little fun. She takes another step back and shifts restlessly, as if she were to flee at any moment. "I don't even know where I'm going," she points out. "She knows more than me and so she has the right to go first. There's a lot to be said for being young, bright, and full of wonder." And with that, Coda's approach silences her.
Sepdet gives Nora a soft glance and then steps out to meet Robin and Coda, as they approach, her path taking her partially in front of the Strider cub as if shielding her from view. "Thank you, Coda," she says quietly. She holds out a hand towards Robin silently.
Allie steps in from the farmhouse, arms settled idly across her torso. She wanders down the steps of the porch, and then blinks -- there's quite a lot of people here. More than she usually sees in a day, in fact. "Um, hi." That's the first thing out of her mouth, and her eyes draw over Coda and Robin (they're new to her, too many damn people around here) and fall upon Sepdet for only a moment. Then, her eyes wander to Nora. Maybe just to say hi, she decides to take a few paces over to the Ragabash. "Hey," the halfmoon cub says, voice low.
Coda nods, ignoring the other Strider completely. "Hey. Anytime." With that, she turns to leave Sepdet and Robin to their business.
By the time they've reached Nora and Sepdet, Robin's dark gaze has settled upon the shorter of the two women. Coda's words speak for her and the Lakota woman remains a respectful half pace behind. But it might as well be that the yard has swallowed up Nora and Coda now for the way Robin takes in the image of Sepdet as if the next moment she might disappear in the next gust of the evening, spring breeze. Looking down, first, at Sepdet's hand, Robin murmurs in a low, almost husky tone, hushed, "Sepdet. You are what he said." And her dark toned hand lifts a settles in Sepdet's.
Instead of shaking it, the Strider elder cups Robin's hand lightly and bows her head in a formal but quick gesture to kiss her knuckles. Then, before the woman can be startled any further, she breaks into a wry smile. "From Joseph, as he asked me. I'm sorry he's not here to greet you."
Nora is completely oblivious to Allie for so long it's as if the girl doesn't exist. She's too busy hovering behind Sepdet like an impatient vulture, studying Coda and Robin. Seems they're all taking in what they want and ignoring the rest. It's not until she takes a direct step backwards, using the sudden broken ties to take her leave, that she nearly stumbles over the shorter girl. In fact, Allie gets a good jab in the solar plexus with a misplaced elbow.
You paged Nora with 'Cub fight! Cub fight! (and apologies... there is never enough of me. :)'.
Pack> Sepdet whistles innocently.
Nora pages: Hey, Nora'd do it. :> And no problem. Wish I was that high in demand. :>
You paged Nora with 'No you don't. Not unless you have less of a guilt complex than I do. I started getting nightmares the last week I was gone telling me I had to log in. Sepdet doesn't leave me alone. ;)'.
From afar, Nora laughs. Well, Nora ain't all that patient, herself. :> But I'd probably go crazy, too.
"Ow!" Allie looks up at the much taller Nora, stepping a few paces back. She rubs the place where she was stabbed at, shaking her head. "Again -- hi, Nora." The almost solemn appearance she held earlier is broken with a tiny smile.
Robin's dark eyes deepen a bit and she hovers there between moving closer to the enigmatic woman and stepping away. But then, a fickle little smile touches at the Lakota woman's lips and she murmurs, "Indeed. I am surprised I did not dream more often of you." Some sort of unspoken context bridges between the two women. "Where is he?"
A quick turn and an expression of mild surprise (speak of the devil) -- overshadowed by continued glances in the direction of Sepdet and Robin -- and though there isn't any hint of flustered apology, there is a spoken one. "Oh, hey. Sorry." She rubs her elbow, and takes another step away. Distracted, to say the least. She does manage a: "Good luck." Before turning and lacing herself into the trees, again.
Nora leaves the gravel of the lane for the black pavement of the road.
Nora has left.
Allie's smile drifts off into nothing. "Yeah, bye," she mumbles under her breath, and then turns to slink over to Sepdet. Light blue eyes look up at Robin, and she scratches the side of her neck idly. "Um. Hello."
Robin pages: Now I feel sufficiently like I ran Nora off. Sorry. :(
You paged Robin with 'Well, we talked for a while; that's why I didn't follow Robin immediately. It's enough. She doesn't mind that much, OOC, she knows she tends to monopolize my RP. (And I can only take Nora's so long.)'.
You paged Robin with 'A good character. But like Carma, she needs more time than I have to 'fix' her. :}'.
Long distance to Nora: Sepdet hugs.
From afar, Nora hugs back. What's that for?
You paged Nora with 'Being patient with the fact that I can never give Nora as much time as she needs. :}'.
Nora pages: Oh. Don't worry about it. I'm just lucky that I get to snag you on occasion. :>
Sepdet tilts her head, somewhat distracted by the antics behind her. "Hanblecheya," she says quietly, but the worry in her eyes gives away her suspicions. "But we need to talk. In a moment," she adds with a faint note of apology, and half-turns to eye the cubs. "Allie, Nora? " She looks after Nora too late, and sighs. "Sorry, Allie, no lessons tonight. The Lady's come a long way, and I'd be amiss if we didn't give her a good welcome."
Coda climbs the three steps up to the front porch.
Coda has left.
Coda walks out into the lane from the front porch.
Coda has arrived.
"Oh." The girl's expression droops somewhat, and then Allie decides she isn't particularly needed, so she plods off into the farmhouse.
Sepdet's reply coincides with the disappearance of Robin's smile. She turns a dark gaze to Allie and dips her chin in a nod of greeting.
Sepdet grins ruefully at the girl's tone and gives her a nudge as she passes. "I'll get that moonbridge for you soon, pup, don't worry."
Allie glances over to Sepdet, and her mouth creaks in a small grin. "I hope. Seeya." She then looks over to Robin, and waves a hand to the Native American woman belatedly. The girl then takes her time going back inside.
Allie climbs the three steps up to the front porch.
Allie has left.
Sepdet sobers after the cubs have scattered, and turns back to Robin. "There's a lot of comings and goings here, so it's a good place to find Garou, but not necessarily -us-." The emphasis she leaves for the woman to decipher. "If you're up for a walk, I can take you to the bluff. We can talk more privately there."
Coda climbs the three steps up to the front porch.
Coda has left.
Robin waits with silent patience. She watches the Strider while the others take their various leaves. And so it is that when Sepdet speaks again, she finds the taller woman's dark gaze already on her face. At the mention of the bluff, a brief flickering of hope crosses the mostly even expression on Robin's face. "I would enjoy a walk." She adds, as if the name were a sentence all its own, "Sepdet."
You paged Joseph and Robin with 'What's the bluff's tp # again? We can @tel there and pose walking .Man, it's been a long time since I've done much -us- RP!'.
Joseph pages to Sepdet and Robin: #3332
Sepdet ducks her eyes awkwardly at the name, as if she hadn't heard anyone say it quite that way in sometime. "And we can talk as we travel, for you know I'm Strider." Her eyes twinkle. "I can't quite believe you're here, you know." She leads Robin across the farmyard to the northeast corner before ducking into the forest, so as to take her just north of the bawn's perimeter.
Robin walks along with Sepdet through the forest (?). There is that same quality about her attention, as if she were committing this path to memory. She's never far enough from the Strider -- assuming Sepdet isn't Stridering -- to give the impression of any but the most attentive of companions. Her reply doesn't come immediately. "I know very little of what you are except as it touches so strongly at Joseph's loyalty." She adds after half a dozen more steps, "It is strange to me as well."
From afar, Robin almost falls into a Louism there. I think I avoided it. :)
Sepdet speaks in a low voice as she steps onto a deerpath, going a little slowly until she's sure exactly how well the human can see in the evening shadows. "I hope you can find it home, for both of you. I know it's not like the place you come from. For one thing--" she takes refuge in jokes, stalling over more serious matters while she tries to find words for them-- "For one thing, there are more trees. But it's good land. And it's Wendigo country, until the last hundred years or so, so it can't quite be strange to you."
Robin's pace is not slowed by much other than the darkness. Now and again, in the darker shadows, she lifts a hand to touch at Sepdet's shoulder, not wanting to lose her. In fact, she moves quite quickly, when sure of the path Sepdet is leaving and she doesn't grow tired quickly. The loafers aren't the best choice for the forest, but they're better than heels would have been. Robin pays very little heed to her clothing. "He spoke of it enough that I feel I know it." The humor is bypassed, at least for now.
Sepdet tells Robin small things as they go: the names of trees, or the birdsongs that she knows, or, "And Joseph made a spear from that tree," or, "And Joseph and I come here sometimes to watch the sunrise, call his Grandfather Sun, my sister Star." It's a song of sorts, though spoken--the singsong rhythms of her voice are more muted than usual, a loss that Robin would have no way of recognizing just yet. She puts off the news Robin most wants to know, and Sepdet least wants to say, at least as long as she can. To the Bluff, unless Robin asks sooner.
The bluff has become the goal. The question of Joseph must surely have an answer there. Robin listens, largely silent. The wait has been long; but three is some comfort in having Sepdet there, something soothing to the fraying of Robin's nerves.
Sepdet stops a moment as they break from the trees, letting Robin first see it with silence and wind for a welcome. Then she moves on towards the fire. There is the faintest scent of smoke and ash, and the fire-ring contains a small mound of heaped-up ashes, which Sepdet approaches. She touches the woman's hand on her shoulder, then sits down before the fire, picking up a stick to brush away the earth and ash from a small lingering bed of coals. Finally she explains, "I expected him back by now. Sometimes dream-journeys don't go as planned, but I'm worried."
Long distance to Joseph: Sepdet tries to remember what night Joe said goodbye.
Joseph pages: Last Friday in April.
You paged Joseph with 'Wow. Time flies. :)'.
Joseph pages: He was due back the following Tuesday, which would have been May 2.
Robin stops as well. The sight brings sudden tears to her eyes, a bright pain to her sinuses. Her hand drops away and she simply devours it all, scent, sight, sounds. And it is empty. She follows after Sepdet and continues to move restlessly around the area after the Strider has take a seat near the fire. Her dark eyes search the dark horizon before she moves back toward Sepdet, kicking off her shoes as she nears and settling to the ground, heedless of the expensive suit. The intensity of her eyes fixes on Sepdet's face, her expression and gaze. "There was conflict in his soul. He did not say the words, but I know."
Sepdet chews her lip. "His doubts are not made easier by living with non-Wendigo." She doesn't use the usual term for them, for once, but there's a trace of the disparaging word in the way she speaks. "Which is something I can't quite help him with, no matter how close we are: I'm not his blood. And he's faced some setbacks that make the doubts even worse. He went to face that, and also to start a fresh spring, in preparation for your arrival. He gave many things away before he left." She touches a turtleshell rattle at her hip.
Robin's gaze falls to the rattle, but the fact that he gave his things away or that he gave something so precious to Sepdet seems neither to bother or surprise her. Her words are suddenly reassuring, nearly an offer in and of themselves: "I am of his blood and his battles are still not mine to fight. They are his own." Commonality. "He speaks of you often."
Sepdet starts adding dried grasses to the embers, although it's not that cold tonight. "He is the brother I cannot have." The phrasing is precise. "But now he's gone. And I am starting to be afraid."
Robin, kneeling, rests her palms on her knees and simply watches Sepdet for a long span of time, or until the Strider holds her gaze for longer than a glance, whichever comes first. "You and I, Sepdet. Can we go to find him?" Still she says the name as if it were a title both revered and esteemed.
The younger side of the Strider threatens to break out, as she raises her eyes to meet Robin's gaze again. The odd Seer is relaxed with this human, accepting her presence as unquestioningly as if she were Garou, which again is something Robin cannot know is unusual. But Sepdet is too subdued; her quiet tonight is not simply the reassuring calm she usually shares like a gift, but the control of one who is trying to stay unruffled in the face of a world turned upside down. "I don't know. I don't even know if we should. Gaia knows I've been on dream-journeys that kept me, and he was always patient, waiting for me to come back. But--do you know of Kshema?"
Dante pages: The bluff is off the bawn, right?
You paged Dante with 'Yep.'.
Dante pages: Darn. :)
You paged Dante with 'I _think_. Ask Joe, actuaully. :)'.
Robin shakes her head, her gaze finding Sepdet again and again, holding her gaze as long as she can before flicking a look to the smoking grasses. "I do not know that name."
You say "It was a spirit of the living wind. Joseph and I and our packmates shared it as a bond. But it lost Joseph's song shortly after he left. Again, that may mean nothing: I've gone beyond the wind's reach myself a few times. But now the wind has gone still. So I can't track him that way."
From afar, Dante plays around in the Umbra. :-)
Robin's gaze ripples and stills, locked upon the Garou now, despite the desire she might have to look elsewhere. "Then it is serious. Surely there are trackers among those here.." She shakes her head, spots of color touching at her cheeks now as she struggles not to offend the Strider, Joseph's Strider with her fierce reaction to the words. "We must find him, Sepdet. I must find him."
Sepdet jumps back as she finally gets a tongue of flame to catch, the hollows in her face brought out by the untroubled flicker of fire. "You're here," she repeats, coming to a decision at last. "He'll forgive the tresspass, if he's not finished. I've got a ritual I can use, one for following. I just... I've been sitting still, since the music in my head went silent. You can help me."
Even though Robin doesn't move, her demeanor gives her the illusion of moving closer in the tiny flickerings of the new flames. "I -will- help you. Anything you ask, it is yours."
"I can't ask you anything he would worry about," she warns, establishing that now before things get complicated. "But this should not be hard for you." She takes a sooty stone from the fire-ring itself and weighs it in her hand for a moment. If it's hot, she makes no sign of noticing. After wiping it in the grass, she moves around the fire to sit next to Robin. "Say his name. Tell me who he is."
Long distance to the room: Sepdet wonders how late we're up for RPing tonight, before we set off and set ourselves up for a long night. _I_ certainly don't mind. :)
Robin pages to the room: I'm not going anywhere. Robin, for what it's worth, is telling me that she'd like Joseph home tonight, please.
From afar, to the room, Joseph blushes. Aww. I can GM a little Questing Stone. :) this is perfect.
You paged the room with 'If it's not clear, I'm doing Questing Stone. Only Sepdet -is- a bit out of sorts, between kshema and Joe, so she's getting Robin to do the Naming part of the rite that Sepdet usually does herself, silently.'.
After watching Sepdet move closer, listening to those cautions, Robin shrugs out of her jacket with an elegantly thoughtless motion and drops the jacket a few feet away from them, still kneeling in that same place. Her blouse is sleeveless, baring her arms to the night and to Sepdet and the breeze catches inside it and billows it now and then. Strange how just that slight of a change can make her look so different. Turning her eyes back to Sepdet she begins to murmur. "Black Rabbit. Lizard Brother. Razes-Dreams. He Catches the Soul, wicanagi." Her voice thrums in an unusual cadence over the names, almost rhythmic and she could easily repeat them again but instead she stops herself, watching Sepdet for instruction.
Long distance to the room: Sepdet suddenly giggles at a thought. | The stone leads you 10 feet into the inipi. Stupid Sepdet, didn't you check there first?
From afar, to the room, Robin laughs.
Pack> Sepdet says "Man. She's hot. :)"
Pack> Joseph must share that with Lu.
Pack> Sepdet beats Impure Thoughts aside and attempts to concentrate. :)
Sepdet gives her hand a little toss, letting the stone roll over in her palm with each name, now one way, now another. She repeats his names after Robin and making a chant of it. "We are calling you. We are crying you. Where are you now?"
Almost immediately, the unusual wind at the bluff--something Sepdet is used to--stills. It's a rare occurance that almost always heralds something dangerous, or unfun.
Sepdet's eyes narrow slightly and she takes a deep breath. She reaches out and sets her free hand on Robin's shoulder lightly, a reassuring gesture, before shifting into a form she feels better able to face whatever might come next, and then goes on. Again she asks Robin, "Tell me who he is."
Sepdet contorts and blurs as she is transformed.
You shift into Glabro form.
Robin murmurs with Sepdet, winding her chant through the Strider's, her eyes first on the stone and then lifting to the sky as if she is willing Joseph to hear her, to hear them. She certainly doesn't notice the stillness before Sepdet does. But eventually she silences, looking to the Glabro Garou. A small shudder goes through her, undiscernible save for the hand at her shoulder. She begins again, "Ghostdancer. Brother. Wicasa Wakan. Lover. Garou." And then she repeats the names. "Black Rabbit. Lizard Brother. Razes Dreams. He Catches the Soul, wicanagi. Oglala Lakota."
Sepdet again repeats it with her, altering the cadences, now faster, now slower, voice deeper and rougher now with the wilder edge that her birth-form lends. "Sen-n-ka'i" she says, in place of "lover," eyes shutting as she attempts to feel with her hands what the silence can't tell her.
The wind returns, but this time it carries with it voices. What to most sound like nothing but the whisper of the grass, or the distant chatter of the tree leaves, Sepdet recognizes as words. Spirit words. A conversation is going on, just beyond the understanding ear, and only glimpses can be percieved. Dream, Wendigo, Home.
The stone in Sepdet's hand turns of its own volition, southward.
Sepdet relaxes as the winds start speaking, whether or no she can make out their meaning completely. "Yes, he's dreaming," she answers, so that Robin can understand what's said. She gives the woman's shoulder a squeeze and uses it to stand without jostling the rock in her hand, nodding her chin southward before beginning to move that way.
While Sepdet converses with the spirits, Robin can only watch and listen, her will alive in her eyes like the small fire beside them. The Lakota woman's breath exhales sharply as Sepdet speaks and she quickly pushes to her feet to follow after Sepdet, reaching out to almost (but not quite) touch at Sepdet now and again as they move southward.
The rock is steady in Sepdet's palm, as if it hovered more than rested there. It continues to point southward, and the journey is not a quick, or easy one It's miles. The approach the edge of Wolf Woods, and still it points almost due south.
Sepdet hesitates on the boundary of the Talons' territory, torn between the insistant tug of the stone and heart, and looks sideways at Robin. "It may be far," she tells her simply, and unslings her waterskin with her right hand awkwardly, offering the woman a drink. "And I don't know what dangers are there. But he _is_ there."
Robin takes the offered drink as if it was a precious gift and nods. "Next time he will have to warn me that he wants to play hide-and-seek. I'll dress more appropriately." Is that a flash of a smile in the darkness? There is a more solemn answer, unspoken. The woman would rather not wait.
Touch Deer pages to Sepdet and Robin: Mind if i drop in?
The stone leads them through darkness unfailingly, insistantly pulling them in one direction. They pass entirely through the National Park, coming out on the opposite side of the farmer's road, adjacent to Eligio's old house. Still, that pull keeps them heading past it into the darker more ominous woods between the Park, the Military base, and the Reservation Leonard came from.
Sepdet nods, expecting both answers. "Come on, then. We may run into Talons. But they'll not disobey my commands." And so the dreamlike night continues, Sepdet now using every sense she has to keep watch for other threats while the tug of stone guides her feet.
You paged Touch Deer with 'Oh yeah. Joe's GMing something--Robin and I actually are way south now. We just crossed Wolf Woods. But Joe just gave us another @emit where we're even past that.'.
Touch Deer pages to Joseph, Sepdet, and Robin: I thought you two were at the Bluff. Okay well I guess I'm not going to be able to join you unless Joe wants to make it possible for me?
Long distance to Touch Deer: Sepdet looks sheepish. We forgot to move. Or rather, the only coded path where we're going cuts across the bawn, and _that's_ no good. (Sep's being careful to stay east of the bawn edge, IC.)
Eventually, the two come across a steep hill buried deep in the woods. Last years leaves are still here, nothing more than wet mulch in the spring runnoff. But, here, too, is a make shift camp. An obvious small lean-to, a very familiar star blanket, and a pipe. The tobacco pouch Joseph uses to fill it sits not far off, though apparently a racoon tried to abscond with it.
Joseph pages to Sepdet, Robin, and Touch Deer: Actually, I'm fine with it. we passed /by/ Ouro territory when we went through the PArk, maybe on the way back up?
Touch Deer pages to Joseph, Sepdet, and Robin: Okay, just tell me where you want me?
Long distance to the room: Sepdet gets slightly confused and makes Donna figure out what she wants at this point. :}
Joseph pages to the room: we were discussing how long it would take you. :) I'll page TD.
Barefoot and jacketless, Robin follows Sepdet up the hill to the camp. She stops short and simply stares at the personal items, one by one. After a moment, she moves forward to pick up Joseph's blanket, lifting it to her face, breathing the scent of it in. To her credit, she made no complaint over the past 5 hours, nor did her pace slow. Fatigue is beginning to show across her shoudlers now. Her pants are slashed with mud and there are marks of sap on her arms as well. Her hair has come mostly free, though the feather pinned in her hair remains at the back of her head.
Touch Deer approaches from the surrounding foothills.
Touch Deer has arrived.
Sepdet, mindful of her double duty as guardian as well as scout, does not bolt for the lean-to immediately upon spotting the spare signs of Joseph's camp. She takes a whiff of the winds, looking for his scent and checking for that of enemies before letting down her guard to investigate the lean-to.
From afar, Robin mmmms. I like being the object of Protective-Seppie.
The scent, Joseph's scent, covers a good part of the area, especially the blanket, the pipe, the ground around the lean-to. But the scent is old. At least a weak old now, and so distant it might almost seem un-noteworthy. The stone has turned on its side again, flat and unmoving.
Sepdet stoops at the entrance with her mouth set in a tight line.
Long distance to Joseph: Sepdet assumes he's not there, but scans for clues.
Touch Deer arrives a few moments after the other two reach the Bluff. He appears in a hurry, jogging towards the two of you.
Robin wraps the blanket around her bare shoulders, her gaze turning stoically in the darkness to Sepdet. She moves closer to her, touching at the Strider's Glabro arm as if something tactile could let her in on the other's thoughts.
From afar, to the room, Touch Deer woops. Make that 'reach the spot of Joseph's Vision Quest.'
There's no sign of the enemy here, either. Sepdet only senses the usual signs of spring, new growth, runoff, old leaves.
You say "The stone led us here," the Strider says with a measure of reassurance. "So he's here. I've got to check the umbra." She starts to let her eyes unfocus, gaze going distant, and then her composure cracks for a moment as all she sees is the world going blurry and staying doggedly before her eyes. She had forgotten for a moment. At the sound of Touch Deer's hurried approach, she scrambles to her feet."
Touch Deer looks Robin up and down, in almost cliche appraisal, then nods to Sepdet and her companion formally. "Any sign of him?"
Robin pages: What did she forget?
Pack> Joseph says "Forgotten what?"
Pack> Sepdet says "Peeking."
You paged Robin with 'It was our twinky gift. :)'.
Robin pages: Awww.
From afar, Robin pets you.
Pack> Joseph says "The umbra is still being goofy?"
You paged Robin with 'You know, I think it's okay. I think I just couldn't take the step, so poor Donna had to do it for me.'.
Pack> Joseph says "Or was that about Kshema?"
Robin wheels around, still standing. She remains still, silent, in complete deference to Sepdet. But her gaze is sharp in the little light the night provides; she assesses what she can see of Touch Deer.
You paged Robin with 'Can't peek through Kshema's eyes anymore to scan the umbra from this side.'.
Pack> Sepdet says "Kshema-sight. Am I driving you nuts with this? I'm sort of getting it out of my system."
Pack> Joseph says "Hell no. No no."
From afar, Robin smiles a little sadly.
Long distance to Robin: Sepdet is now actually RPing it, whereas I kept putting off dealing with it.
Long distance to Robin: Sepdet needed to let go or we'd never go forward. I don't want to talk about it too much, so that we'll have it to talk about when Lou's here.
Robin pages: You know Lou's leaving, yes?
You paged Robin with 'No. >sniff<'.
Long distance to Robin: Sepdet wondered how you were going to juggle Robin AND Lou.
Robin pages: Robin is pretty secondary, I think.
Long distance to Robin: Sepdet bites her lip and puts off thinking about that until I can. It's just... a lot. But Sepdet knew. She gave me that dream Thursday morning, telling me.
You paged Robin with 'It wasn't direct, it was a dream with Dylan and Whispers in it, and I woke up knowing I _had_ to log in that night and not keep brushing her asdie.'.
From afar, Robin hugs you very, very tightly.
Sepdet shakes her head, after a moment, resettling herself. "His scent is cold. We should check the umbra."
Long distance to Robin: Sepdet hugs back and makes her focus here. And on the future. There's always changes, but you two will still be there.
From afar, Robin will!
Touch Deer nods while looking around the area. "One moment." He begins circling the spot where the blanket was, over a over a few times, in wider circles as he searches for anything out of the ordinary.
You are not a member of a pack.
It is currently 22:39 Pacific Time on Fri May 12 2000.
Touch Deer returns after the cursory search, it lasted only about half a minute. "The Umbra seems the place to look allright. I think he may be on his Vision, as we speak."
Robin, holding Joseph's blanket around her shoulders, finally gives in a little to her exhaustion, at least enough to sink to the ground, kneeling as she waits, her attention sliding between Sepdet and Touch Deer.
Sepdet looks at Robin and bites her lip. "Find a stream and go look. I'll stay here with Robin."
Touch Deer nods and without a moment's hesitation, goes to find a stream where he can try and Reach.
Long distance to the room: Sepdet takes a moment or five to regain her composure, after +pack/c fails to operate. Sorry guys. I'm okay now. :)
Robin pages to Joseph and Sepdet: Why does silly code hurt worse than any of the rp?
From afar, to Sepdet and Robin, Joseph got it too, and was just growling at Robin about it. *hug*
You paged Joseph and Robin with 'It just caught me offguard. Okay. WE're looking for JOE here. Ellen shuts up and lets Sepdet be Sepdet, without loading shit on her. :}'.
You paged Joseph and Robin with 'Because of the bald, blunt, emotionless error message that has no mind behind it understanding what it says when it tells you: "You are not a member of a pack." +pack/c was working a few minutes ago. I was just telling Joe what you told me, and the error message was one thing more than I was expecting tonight.'.
Touch Deer lets out a cry of pain as the shoulder scar he received from Wendigo burns at the touch of the cold air. He quckly adjust his shirt to try and cover it from teh wors of the cold, but it still stings enough to keep him permanently grimacing. He looks at the tooth for awhile, and then the Glyph he does not recognize; after trying to memorize it, he returns to the Realm, with the tooth.
Sepdet stays by Robin, not speaking, but keeping watch. "We will find him," she tells the woman. "I'd know if he were really gone for good, I think. Maybe you would too. Don't fear the worst."
From afar, to the room, Touch Deer should have paged that pose. Doh.
Long distance to the room: Sepdet is interested to see what's going on over there even if Sepdet and Robin can't. No worries. :)
Joseph pages: To save time, the glyph that Touch Deer's about to show you? It's an 'anchor' of sorts. A spiritual thing marks a place, or a thing, as an anchor. Think of it like a tether. You can use it when you doa rite to send someone's spirit off (for instance), to keep them grounded to a place, so they can find teir way back.
"He is deep," the Lakota woman answers, some of her refined city accent falling away to a cadence of syllables much like Joseph's. Something in the simple statement suggests agreement, even gratitude.
Robin pages to Joseph and Sepdet: Nothing like a tp to put two chars together who might have circled each other for awhile before becoming close. ;)
Touch Deer returns shortly, carrying a strange gnarly-looking tooth in one hand. "I found this. And two Glyphs. One for Wendigo, the other I did not recognize." He tries to draw it from memory in the soil. For the moment, he seems to be holding off on introductions with Robin.
Sepdet nods to Robin, then examines what Touch Deer shows her with pursed lips. "It's the Pole-Star stone for his journey," she says, evidently recognizing the meaning. "It links his spirit here, when he goes travelling. The problem is reeling him in, or following it out."
Touch Deer hands the tooth over. "I'd say, wait it out, except for that."
Sepdet takes the tooth warily and sniffs it.
You paged Joseph with 'Wyrm? Or something dinosaur-ish?'.
Joseph pages: Not Wyrmish. Vaguely dinosaurish, but nothing you can absolutely place. There's anger in it though.
Long distance to Joseph: Sepdet has only ever seen a t-rex tooth, but I carried it a long time. ;)
Touch Deer looks around. "Is there a way to follow him? Maybe if we can find whatever that tooth came from?"
From afar, to the room, Touch Deer hasta go soonish.
Sepdet exhales. "Dragon?" she wonders. "Or something old." She mulls over Touch Deer's question before answering. "I have not the tracking skills to find this thing," she says, giving the tooth a shake before handing it back. "Nor am I sure I want to. Whatever it is, it may have disturbed his tether here. There is one thing I could try: to sleep where he started, which would send me walking too. And try and use Questing Stone in Dream itself, searching for him. But I don't know if that will work. We may need to ask Quiet's advice."
Robin listens, watches still. She doesn't interrupt the discussion.
Touch Deer has disconnected.
You paged the room with 'TD goes to ask Quiet. :)'.
From afar, to the room, Robin grins.
Joseph pages to the room: Dammit, I was just going to say that. :)
Joseph pages to the room: but he left too soon.
Robin pages to the room: Do we have much further we can do tonight?
From afar, to the room, Joseph will +mail him that.
You paged the room with 'And we're back where we were. That's why I suggested that ICly. Anyway. I donno. Sepdet doesn't have that gift that lets you put multiple people in a dream, and what she's suggested is a bit dangerous. :}'.
Joseph pages to the room: Noit really. I think you have everything you're gonna get tonight. It's just a matter of trying to go home, or staying here and waiting for tomorrow, or what.
Robin pages to the room: Robin's not gonna want to leave.
Joseph pages to the room: Sep, let me page you what I paged TD, in case you go into the umbra at some point yourself. ok?
Long distance to the room: Sepdet was thinking that i might, to check and see if there was any obvious disturbance in the ritual stuff Joe left that I could put back in order. Like, a stick out of place or something.
Robin pages: It is -really- nice to rp with you. And.. it's also nice to rp with you in a diff char than Lou. Neat to have a new perspective.
Joseph pages to the room: Upon corssing, Touch Deer finds the umbral air much /colder/ than it should be. The wind is much much more biting than it is on the realmside. There's even frost damage on the new growth. there's no sign, no sign at all of Joseph, but there is a tooth, a very long, gnarled, and icy tooth that marks the spot. Two glyphs are carved into the stone it sits on--the Wendigo glyph, and another, more obscure one. I don't think Touch Deer would recognize it.
Sepdet moves to Robin's side and kneels where she's waiting. "You're going to need rest," she says gently. "Love goes a long way, but the feet still tire. Now. I've sent Touch Deer to seek the advice of an older Seer, who knows a lot about dreaming. But I can try to look for Joseph tonight. The trouble is, that means I have to leave you alone here."
Robin's hands emerge from the blanket around her shoulders, reaching for Sepdet's hands. "I am not a stranger to the wild places, despite how I may look to you. Sepdet." That single word sentence again. "Go. But before you do, tell me what I can do to help you, here."
Sepdet drops her eyes. "Unfortunately, this is one place where Garou skills on the other side separate you from me." The respect in her tone puts them on equal footing, in other circumstances. "But here." She takes the turtleshell rattle from the new leather bindings she uses to keep it tied to her belt, and sets that down, then unslings her thong necklace with its five charms and loops it over the handle. "Joseph's rattle. My name-sign. Keep them for us. They may help serve as an anchor too."
Robin's dark eyes shimmer at the gravity of the request whether simply to make her feel useful or purposeful. "I will. And you will return to me. Both of you."
Robin pages: Poor Sep. Robin is tranferring Joseph's intense feelings for Sepdet back to her. It's got be weird to get them from Robin.
Sepdet answers frankly, "I will try. I don't know how long this will take, because I don't know where I'm going. Go back tomorrow, if I am not here; I doubt I will come back by day. You'll need food. Then, I know, you'd come back here. Touch Deer should find you. And if he hasn't got an answer, and I am taking too long, tell him: Chloe the Dreamspeaker. She knows Joseph and me, and she has gifts even the Garou can't match."
Robin listens avidly, devouring the words. "I will." She hasn't yet released her hold on Sepdet's hands.
Sepdet clasps Robin's hands firmly with one final squeeze, a promise echoed by her words. "I'll see you soon. Keep safe." Then she rises again and trots off, after unslinging her waterskin and setting it down nearby.
You paged Robin with 'It _is_ neat. And Robin's a wonderful character.'.
You paged Robin with 'It's amazing, really. I dreamed of her indirectly 3? years ago now, and you brought her to life. :)'.
[Much pagespam. Robin curls up in the lean-to with Joe's star blanket around her.]
Touch Deer has connected.
Touch Deer pages to the room: I'm back. :)
You paged Touch Deer with 'We're not. :)'.
Touch Deer pages: Where are we?
You paged the room with 'Joe's on the phone. I had just said "How about TD go ask Quiet's advice" as you logged out. Sepdet's tucked Robin in (Robin won't leave) and is reluctantly leaving her here to sleep while Sepdet tries a little dreamwalking herself, starting where Joe did, and trying to follow him.'.
Touch Deer pages: Kay. Want to pose something for me to get back into the scene?
Long distance to the room: Sepdet erghs, not quite sure where to go next. I didn't realize you'd be back or I wouldna given you an "out".
Touch Deer pages to the room: Sorry. :) I can ask Quiet stuff over the link.
Touch Deer nods to Sepdet's request. "What do you want me to ask, specifically?"
You say "Tell her what's happened. Joseph's gone to Dream and something may have disturbed his anchor so he can't return. I'm following him, but I may not be able to find him.""
Touch Deer nods, and his eyes go distant for a few minutes while he converses over his pack's link with Quiet.
Touch Deer pages: What did that other Glyph mean?
You paged Touch Deer with 'It's the anchor he uses for his dreaming rite, to find his way back.'.
Touch Deer says "Quiet believes we should bring the tooth to Jade, and see if she might identify it."
Long distance to the room: Sepdet mutters, this not going the way I wanted it to at all. :}
Touch Deer pages to the room: Muahaha. :)
Touch Deer pages to the room: Bleah, I need to go again in about 15 miunutes.
Sepdet nods uncertainly, and looks towards Robin. "She's probably right. But I can't just...leave." The Strider looks uncomfortable. "I'm going to try it anyhow. Can you take it to her?"
Touch Deer says "I was about to suggest that. I'll take the tooth to her now, and return here when I have an answer. It may take a day, if Jade is traveling or decides to be more difficult than usual."
Sepdet grins lopsidedly. "It may take me a while too," she concedes, without conceding any more than that. "And...you'd better bring back a bite of human food, if you can." She nods towards Robin, already asleep from exhaustion. "I don't think the Lady will be willing to leave this place until she sees him safe."
Touch Deer hmms. "I want to try calling Jade first from her, if she's not busy we may save alot of time this way. I'll have to step over." He looks down at Robin. "I can provide her with food and water and fire and a shelter, if you want to wait for me? I'd like to come, as well."
Sepdet looks relieved. "I'll wait. Could you? The only problem is that I -can't- bring anyone with me. I'm no Galliard. When I dream, I dream alone."
Touch Deer frowns, but nods. He moves to the stream again and soon disappears.
Touch Deer pages to the room: Well I gotta go. :( I'm gonna +mail Joseph with what I do and stuff, night!
==============================================================================
To: Joseph, and Robin
Subject: Tarot reading
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I still couldn't sleep and did a tarot reading. Watch THIS little number (it's Sepdet's old tarot spread based on the caern's original configuration):
1- Center (Current situation): Night terrors, dreams gone wrong. 2- Earth Mound (Foundation, the past, Roots): Nine of Wands reversed. Upright means a secure position from which to wage an uphill battle. Reversed means losing that position. 3- Firepit (Environment, friends, social circle): The devil reversed. Treachery, bondage, abuse, but watered down to mere spite and squabbles if it's reversed. 4- Pool (Emotions, inner feelings/strengths/weakness): The Lighting Struck Tower. The most disastrous card in the deck. 5- Windy Spot (Message from the spirits, possible outcome): The world reversed. Several possible meanings. The loss of a world. Or, alternatively, stuck in a rut and unable to let go.
I must say, this new deck I just purchase seems to be sharp-tongued. :}
==============================================================================
Message: 27/28 in folder main Received: Sat May 13 12:03:09 2000
From: Joseph
To: Touch Deer
Cc: Andrea, Joseph, Sepdet, and Robin
Subject: Re: What I do.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Three things. First, I'm really sorry about disappearing last night. Second, I just realized there's a problem with the tooth. It's a spiritual thing, found in the umbra. You couldn't have crossed over with it the way you did. Can we just say you and Sep looked at it umbrally? Third, Jade would not come to that place. She would not, either, give an explanation why. You can bring the tooth to her, but you need to find a way to get it to her. I suppose you could travel back umbrally. Kind of dangerous, but the moon is fairly bright, and you're not /far/ from home.
Upon showing the tooth to Quiet and Jade, the Uktena spirit would recognize it immediately as belonging to a spirit of her cousin, Wendigo. It's rather harsh to the touch, extremely cold. Beyond that, though, it's just a tooth--one of the larger fangs the spirit displays.
If Touch Deer explains how he found it--among the two specific glyphs, one the mark of the Wendigo and the other the spiritual anchor the tooth was resting on--I'm fairly sure Andrea would suggest they bring it back immediately. She'd know that it might be playing a part in keeping Joe's spirit 'tethered' to 'here', and removing it puts that lifeline in jeopardy.
Joseph pages: did you want to play?
You paged Joseph with 'Now that Robin's gone, yes please!'.
16 Miles South(#1296RJ$)
An apparently peaceful stretch of woods. A small temporary lean-to has been erected here, and there are a few signs of a small camp having been pitched in the area.
Joseph pages: So. You read the mail. What do you think we should do re the tooth and Quiet et al?
You paged Joseph with 'If Jade won't come, I think that the discussion in your +mail would've happened via their pack-telepathy. TD could've described the tooth to Andrea.'.
You paged Joseph with 'Long distance, I mean. At which point we'd be back to square one, not having moved the tooth. And Sepdet going dreamwalking. She asked TD to get Robin food on the theory Robin's not leaving. She may well have slipped into the umbra after he left. She's just that stubborn.'.
You paged Joseph with 'And anyway, she can't take TD with her, if she tries to dreamwalk.'.
From afar, Joseph isn't sure just a description would yield the same information, regarding the tooth. But you might have come across that yourself. So you want to just do a dreaming?
Long distance to Joseph: Sepdet makes sure we're on the same page of the book, though. Joe has a Rite that lets him do organized, careful dreamwalking and tends to give meaningful dreams. But anyone who falls asleep in the umbra often goes into Dream anyway, right? Just a little more haphazardly.
You paged Joseph with 'Yeah, I want to do a dreaming, just making sure we're both thinking the same way about this.'.
From afar, Joseph nodnods. So, we can assume TD's hunting for food, the tooth is back, for now, Robin's asleep, and you're free to pose. :)
Sepdet makes sure that Robin's as comfortable as may be, and sleeping deeply, before she slips off to the stream Touch Deer used to cross. As she makes her way back to the spot, she's hindered by the icy cold that's the Wendigo's signature, and has to force her feet to move for all that she's walked barefoot in the snow half the winter. At last she sits down by the glyph-marks and tooth that Joseph left behind, and scans the area herself with some trepidation.
Long distance to Joseph: Sepdet checks to see if anything catches her eye that Touch Deer might not notice, just to be sure.
The dead leaves around the two sigils and the stone where the tooth rests has been carefully cleared away. It /is/ cold. Cold enough the Strider's breath is not only visable, but frosty. It bites, in that same scar the Strider shares with both Touch Deer and her lost packmate. But it's not the icy chill that puts a shiver in the glabro Strider. It's a presence. She's been in the presence of Wendigo spirits often enough in her recent past, and her crescent's intuition serves her well here, now. He makes no show, no sound, nothing to alert himself, but he watches, and it's his cold red eyes Sepdet feels.
Sepdet's chin lifts in faint defiance, although the thin Wendigo scar lacing across collarbone and throat, almost hidden but never forgotten, makes the movement cut like a knife-edge. *He is yours. But he's also mine. I want to see him.*
Laughter is her only answer. There's no amusement in the harsh wind that brings it, either. It's as bitter as it is cold. *Where he goes, you can't follow, little one.*
Sepdet sets her shoulders. ~That's likely enough to be true,~ she mutters. *Then I'll leave him a rope to follow. Where is he? Can he return?*
For a long time there's only silence and the ever-present cold. If her patience were less, surely she would assume the spirit meant not to answer, but finally his voice returns a token answer, or so it seems. *Only if he wishes to.*
Sepdet's bristling fades at that, anchored by a truth the Wendigo's scorn can't touch. *He will.* She thinks of the human sleeping in this same spot, just on the other side of vision, and lies down in the same posture, facing the glyphs, willing her flesh to go numb against the bite of the frosted earth. She concentrates on slow breathing, the two glyphs before her eyes, and a third in her mind's eye, that of Blackrabbit. She fixes their sight firmly in her mind, so that she'll remember, when she falls asleep, what she's trying to do. A Questing Stone rite, done within a dream? Is it even possible? Knowing that sleep will come only if she doesn't try for it, she sets her teeth against the cold and waits.
The presence of the spirit, unwavering, is also a distraction. Tough unseen, the feel of his ice cold eyes adds to the already considerable chill the Strider needs to forget. Merciful sleep comes only hours later, and only fitfully to begin. Those first flitting dreams are nothing more than whim--some of them violent. Blood, ice, battle. Images and flashes that come and go like a gust of wind, making no sense. Then, a deeper sleep eventually steals the Strider away, and she's left, barefoot on a wide open plain. Cold, barren, and windy, it seems even in dream she can't escape Wendigo's touch.
Intentions seldom carry across to dreams without Chimera transforming them, and tonight's no exception. Sepdet dreams she has a stone in her hand, but she has forgotten what she meant to use it for. She knows she needs to bring it to Joseph for his fire-ring in order for it to burn properly. It bothers her a little that the thing she carries is not quite a stone, but a large tooth, and that its cold burns her hand. But the important thing is to bring it to the bluff. Joseph will know what to do. If only she can get there soon! This doesn't look like the trail she usually takes. Was it always so cold, and she just never noticed?
So cold. No, I don't think it's ever been this cold, anywhere. Not to a Strider used to hotter places. Places of the sun. There's no sun today. Everything is grey, and the trail winds in odd round about turns until even a Strider could get lost. Lost. Anger filters in as she grips the tooth tighter. To get lost on the way to the Bluff is, well, embarassing. Perhaps if she starts over, she could follow it more closely--but even as the thought occurs to her, she sees the familiar slope of grass. And there at edge, a silouette. Joseph?
Signe pages: You are so quick!
Sepdet gives a call that makes no sound and runs forward, stumbling a little from the numbness in her toes. ~Sen n ka'i? I brought it for you!~ She holds out her hands to him, the tooth cupped in her left palm.
Long distance to Signe: Sepdet knew you'd say that. I was working on that pose the whole time you were working on yours. It just occurred to me. ;)
From afar, Signe chuckles.
The midnight black hair is touched by the wind. It's right. It's his silouette, but when she calls, when he turns around, it's not Blackrabbit's face that greets her. No, this wizened old one could not be He Catches the Soul. So old. Eyes that old have surely seen the beginning of time. The smile that touches his lips is familiar, though. But this is not Joseph, that she feels. He speaks, and his words are lost in the grass. But he points, and there are others on the bluff, now. Lots of others. A village of others busy with life as usual.
Sepdet is reassured, anyway, for she is cold and lonely and not meant to be out in the north wind like this. ~Whistler?~ she guesses, tentatively. ~Sir, I brought this for him. Could you give it to him for me? I know this is not my place.~
He shakes his head. No recognition. No time. Busy. Still she can't understand him, though it's clear he and some of his friends have a little fun at her expense. A patronizing look, exrpession, and whispered comments elicit laughter--soft, and attempting to be polite. Too busy. Each of them is too busy, but one white-haired old one points the Strider to the cave.
A rare flash of anger crosses her face, half-forgotten memories of mockery and laughter from another lifetime, but this is not the scorn of one's own kind, nor cruel--the anger fades, and she clutches the tooth more tightly, although it hurts her hand. She nods to the elder and moves in the direction he points.
Even as she moves toward it, a sense of dread slows her feet. It burbles up inside her like the clench of cold you feel stepping into glacier runoff. And the closer she gets, the slower her feet, the more poignant the fear. It's quiet here, all the old ones behind her, busy with their lives, forgotten of everything. The black entrance to the cave is a maw. A mouth, with absolutely nothing beyond.
Sepdet stops at the cave entrance, memories of her own cave flung before her mind's eye in stark contrast, the den she used to have beneath the earth, with the shelves and pots and herbs and blankets and wood and good scents all piled along the sides like a nest for an industrious mouse. Joseph's cave is not like this! She tries to remember, but all she can smell is blood on the walls. Memories and dreams overlap as she edges forward with a shudder, trying to see something--anything--in that unwelcoming cold blackness. ~I brought you some matches,~ she says with a sad, affectionate smile, holding out the tooth. ~Don't you still want them?~
You paged Joseph with 'You remember the matches.'.
From afar, Joseph nods solemnly.
Joseph pages: We should show this to Graham.
Long distance to Joseph: Sepdet smiles.
The mouth of the cave seems to grow bigger. Or maybe the Strider is getting smaller. It threatens to envelop her. And the blood. The blood on the walls runs in little rivulets that turns to streams. They bleed out from the sigils that Sepdet knows are there. There in the cave, all over the cave, life histories of the old ones, running in rivers now over the walls of the cave. They reach the ground and soak in, but not even Gaia can accept that much. It splashes over the Strider's bare feet.
Sepdet can't force herself farther into that red maw; her fear of coffins and confined spaces wells up before her and squeezes her eyes shut. But she can't just walk away. Wasn't she going to throw a rope or something? She starts to cry out that Robin's home, that she's waiting, that they're lonely and the den is so silent and still without the wind blowing through. But their needs and wants dwindle to a gnat's nagging before that awful river of blood spilled. The words that come are not a plea, but instead a song from her cub-days, taught by her friend Hollytoe of Western Eye, when she was too young to understand what it meant.
It's not quite the words that Hollytoe taught her either, which came from some human book, but they mean the same thing: