A murmured rendition of Aerosmith's "Eat the Rich" filters into the church from outside. Chain-jangling announces Nevada, who shoulders in with a brown paper bag in his arms. He's missing one shoe, sockless, and doesn't pause a step as he kicks off the other shoe somewhere over the pews. "Green?" he calls, letting his voice fade from the song.

Yi waits quietly atop the rafters, grinning mischieviously as Nevada enters near-obliviously from the church. It's a good thing she dusted the rafter she's on, and quietly stalks down the length of the beam to get into pouncing position.

The Galliard drifts to a stop a few yards into the aisle. He tosses down the brown bag onto a pew, rubbing his hands together as he turns a glance around the sanctuary. "Greenstreak," he intones, his voice deeper, sterner now. "Are you down there? Mrs. Thumb an' her four daughters wit' you or what?" He snorts, starting off toward the basement. He walks backwards at first a few steps, before turning shoulder. He has a hand in his hair.

Yi moves along the rafters, and suddenly drops down in back of Nevada with a purposely heavy thump. She lifts her hands in a twin claw like manners and growls loudly, "RARR!"

Holy shit if he doesn't have Leap of the Kangaroo. Nevada whirls around upon touching ground, fixing her with a look. "Jesus," he says,"You're gonna give me a heart attack!" He doesn't look too cranky about this, however, a slow grin molassesing its way onto his face. "Rarr to you too, Mulan."

Yi lowers her arms and giggles a bit as she enjoys the reaction from the galliard. "I think the Realm group had a similar surprise like such yesterday," she chuckles, peering at the brown bag on the pew. "What's in there?" she queries curiously.

"Some Cokes," he says, reaching an arm in to unhook one. He tosses it to her, then gets his own. "So what happened yesterday? Gonna fill me in?"

Yi snags the can deftly, and gives it a short look before something pops and air hisses from the seal. "I haven't heard what happened to the Realm group," she notes with a tap of her thumb to push the tab down and small sip. "But the Umbral group was relatively fine. Slimy stuff in the sewers. Sounded like something was making rice porridge...but I don't think it would be so tasty."

"Yeah? What in hell's down t here? Banes?" With intense interest, Nevada slips up onto a pew, watching her as he pops open his own coke. "Any ass get kicked?"

Yi sips slowly, recalling the thought. "If you count a light talen causing slime on the walls to harden and flake off," the Canto-raggie says thoughtfully. "But I do know whatever I heard that was making the squishy sound, moved northwest. Deeper into the city." She pauses, thinking what's out there northwest of the city.

"That's it?" He doesn't bother to hide his disappointment. "So now we got nasty shit what know we all comin' down there, an we didn't even get to kill some of it."

Yi tilts her head to the galliard. "The point was to scout how far and how bad, not to see how long we could hold out," she states testingly. "But what is worrisome, is that the things start off less than 3 blocks from Harbor Park."

"Yeah.. I guess." The young man snorts. "Guess I just feel like killin shit, y'know. Harbor Park always been shitty, what I can remember." He kicks his legs off the side of the pew before taking a drink. "So we got a majorass infestation gone on?"

Yi nods slowly. "Sepdet called something into the light... I think I caught a glimpse of it before the walls ate it," she trails momentarily, the thought and phrase strange... "A rat. Or something. But it was green. I'll have to ask Sepdet what it said."

"Cowabunga?" The Galliard's interest intensifies. "Na'wait, that's Michelangelo, not Splinter. A rat, huh. An it were green."

Yi scratches the back of her neck with a short rub. "Yah," she replies with a nod. "I think it was green. Things look different in hispo, but the shade of light.." she shrugs that off, trivial things. "But I didn't get a chance to see what was the porridge monster... or whatever it was. But it was heading northwest."

He snorts. "Porridge monster. -- Did I ever tell you how I got my deed name, Mulan? Ah, that can wait. When's there a raid gone to happen down there?" Coughing slightly, as to not appear overzealous, the Galliard adds,"If there is one, anytime soon, I mean." He gestures with his coke. Signe pages to Yi, Owen, and Sepdet: You guys up for some talk about what we found out last night?

Yi smirks a bit, sipping her Coke some. Taking the can from her lips, she replies, "We'll have to get together, the realm and umbral groups, and exchange information."

"Yeah.. " Nevada's eyes slip away. "I want to go. Kill som'that shit. Fuck only knows what breedin' down there." He crunches the Coke can in his hand.

Yi reaches out with a hand and places it on Nevada's head gently. "Calm down now, Nevada," she grins slightly, knowing full and well it's his moon. "We'll have time soon enough. I don't think Signe will let this go too far, and our plan is to strike in waves."

Sepdet ambles in cautiously, seldom out and about by daytime as she is in the city.

The Galliard's attention drifts back to her. "Yeah," he grunts. "Whatever. Hope soon. I think I'm gonna f'awalk, or some shit." He smiles wanly at her, slipping off the pew. He tosses the crunched can over his shoulder, sinking a blind basket in the brown paper bag. Spotting Sepdet on his way out, he offers an eventual nod and more than a bit of a wide berth.

Yi offers a small wave as Nevada passes by, and looks surprised to see Sepdet here at this time of day. "Yo," she offers, pausing to sip the Coke in her hand.

Owen is shortly after the Strider by maybe only a few seconds, having followed her here. He carries no dufflebag with him today.

"Thought we might talk over our hunt's luck," the Strider says lightly, moving into the church and giving her packmate a small warm smile. "If you don't have any cubs or other work to tend right now?"

Yi shakes her head, reaching behind her to pull the bag back around beside her. "Coke?" she offers to the higherups. "Was dusting the rafters earlier for webs and things," she says to Sepdet, glancing up at the beams above.

Signe wanders in last, perusing the new doors idly before coming all the way in.

Sepdet looks up automatically with a thoughtful expression as she seats herself delicately on one of the pews, as usual perching with feet off the ground that would probably not reach it anyway. "You are a Groundskeeper of a sort, here. I still need to tell you the tale of Rat's children here before you arrived. Some other time." She looks back towards Signe and subsides in musings; somehow they seem a little out of place before the imposing Get.

Owen finds himself a pew to stretch out upon irreverantly, legs kicked up on the back of the pew before him. Sister Anne back home would burst a vessel seeing this.

Yi nods to the two Get, offering a curt, "Yo." Guessing they'd probably settle to not drinking soda, she tilts her head at the two of them. "How was the scouting?"

Signe finally comes to the others, glancing from one face to another and, seeing them looking to her, she shrugs vaguely. "So what did you see on the other side?"

Sepdet bites first, smiling faintly at the conjunction of questions. "It was a lot better than I'd hoped. So much that we did a little exploring up north." She takes a breath before distilling what they saw into speech.

Sepdet says "Harbor Park's surprisingly clear, apart from some fear-spirits around the perimeter that taste of human fear and hate more than anything stronger. They tried to hurt our heads, a bit. Kristine and I, anyway." She looks over at Yi. "Did you feel anything there, or was it just us crazy spirit-folk?""

Yi sips at her Coke, recalling from memory, "I felt it, but was able to ignore them," she says with a slight purse of her lips. "I think they keep those spirits on the outside of their boundaries... to ward off intruders. Like our bawn."

Owen shrugs from where he sits. "Well, found two. One was an ink blot that tried sapping my resolve. We made it not."

Sepdet seems to have more to report, but leans forward towards Owen. "Darkness and forcing the will. That sounds like what was behind us on the last expedition. Was this in the park or beyond?"

Signe's frown distills into something thoughtful, and she glances at Owen. "Are you sure it was clear?" At Owen's words, she nods, and says, "I have a feeling that without the light, there would have been a lot more than two. And they got behind me, somhow, even when there was no tunnel for them to come down. Which makes me think they seep right through the walls themselves. The only way I can think to actually /clear/ the tunnels is to light them up, like permanantly."

Sepdet nods urgently. "That's what I wanted to tell you about."

Yi glances to Sepdet, then back to Signe. "The light talens... there was some slime on the walls and made it harden. Whatever was there didn't like it, and retreated farther into the side tunnel I was sniffing." Owen answers Sepdet after Signe's report. "Under the park. In the sewer tunnel. Just a little ways out from the park."

Sepdet puts a hand up. "Right. We went north with just the dim light, and I think most of what was avoiding that was only Rat spirits; we saw one." She scowls. "And once we got north of the park by a block or so there started to be slime on the walls that Kris said had attacked her and Elan once. It attacked the Rat with tentacles. Something /big/ farther north, but some distance off. Possibly more of the slime, possibly something larger. I decided not to follow it through the whole damn city, but I think it was one of the things over at Osprey Circle. When we came back, Carlos kicked on Katina's sun-talen, and /that/ seems to have been strong enough to harden and kill the Wyrm-slime. So yes. Strong lights."

Signe shakes her head, "I never got past the park itself, I don't think. And they got behind me. Light /definitely/ hurts them." She waits, though, to hear what Sepdet says.

Signe nods after that. "So, if we could get permanant lights down there, somehow--or at least semi-permanant, til we ferret out all the evil--we could secure at least Harbor Park and work from there through the rest of the system."

Yi glances at Sepdet. So it /was/ a Rat-spirit she thought she heard. "Was it tainted?" she asks the Strider. "The thing...sounded like it was pouring porridge. I didn't get a chance to see it. But it retreated.. north and west, deeper into the city and not towards the river."

Owen rubs his shoulder for a moment. "Uh, won't the power company or city workers notice something wired up down there?"

Sepdet shakes her head at Yi. "I couldn't tell in all the background taint, Yi, but I /think/ it was one of yours," she says apologetically.

Signe leans against a pew and nods in Owen's direction. "That's my problem. I dunno how to do it, exactly. We need Walkers and don't got any."

"I doubt there's any workers going down there now, or if they are, the banes are a bit more obvious than lighting. Besides which, the workers who come down will simply go, 'Hey, someone turned on some lights.' and problably not wonder too much about it. But we do need Glass Walkers,"

Sepdet agrees. "Unless you can cobble together a lot more of those car-lights, Yi, so they have their own power?" She looks over towards the Gnawer.

Yi thinks about this light problem. "What about in the Umbra at least... if it were possible to have light or electricity spirits..." she trails at that, thinking she's treading unfamiliar ground about dealing with spirits. She looks pensive about the carlights. "If you wanted constant power, you'd need a generator.."

Sepdet points at Yi. "You know wires. So does John, I'm sure, and apparently Reggie does. Possibly Lucca. And it's something even human cubs may be able to help with. Sounds like a good project for the more city-savvy Garou to get cracking on."

Signe pipes up, "Sepdet, rhya, how likely would it be for us to convince some electricity or light spirits to move in semi-permanantly? Til we've delt with these darkness banes?"

Sepdet purses her lips. "Tough," she thinks. "It's be practically making a fetish. But we might persuade them, if we held a big summoning. It's definitely worth a try."

Sepdet pages to the room:

Owen seems about to ask a very similar question, but, beaten to the punch, leans back into the pew once more.

Signe grunts an agreement, adding only. "I wasnt thinking of a talen. More...trading something with a whole army of them, for their help. I don't know what that might be, but as you say it's worth a try."

Yi nods slowly. "My knowledge about it only goes so far though," she says quietly. "Basic science experiments." Glancing back up from her Coke, she sips silently, thinking who she could ask. "There might be spirits already in the pipes.. electric and gas amongst them... if there are spirits of such things."

"There are. And if they're Gaian, or even predominantly weaver, they might take some joy in the mere fact of beating the darkness back and our pitching in to help. I think this may be a matter of diplomacy, yes." Sepdet's mind is already churning behind her eyes, considering the task with an eager gleam. "As for what you saw: two banes, same type, yes? Anything else? And did anyone take wounds? I know some of the Garou who've encountered banes down there took poison from those things."

Owen shakes his head. "Not the same. At least not in appearance. I think that Gnawer lupe took some wounding."

Yi seems somewhat pressed, then gives a short sigh and takes another gulp of Coke. "How about Joey and Max? What did they see or smell..or hear?"

Signe's scowl returns, her expression souring considerably.

Owen smirks over at his tribesmate. "He took it down, so not his fault. Throat him as promised. Or maybe wait for the real fight?"

Switching her gaze between the two Get, Yi rubs her neck with her free hand. "Not going to learn anything if you're just going to frown," she murmurs almost inaudibly. "This /was/ just a scouting mission. And even if he broke the Veil, I'm not all that eager to lose one of my tribe's best warriors."

Sepdet looks patiently between the Get, prizing out stones of info from their silences.

Signe's eyes darken at the Gnawer's rebuke--if it is a rebuke--and her nostrils flair for a moment. "You've already lost him," she tells Yi. "But I can't blame him for wanting his death to mean something. But he gets only one more chance."

Owen grins a little, perhaps a dangerous look in there. "We had a talk. At least he doesn't fear death now. He looks forward to the Glory."

"If it were possible, I think he'd want to die fighting the biggest queen ant," Yi nods to Signe's statement, not challenging the ahroun Jarl in the slightest. "But now that we know where to strike, how, when, and who are the next questions... and what will we do after."

Sepdet listens patiently, resting her chin on the back of the pew, while the Get growl and grumble. "Did Joey or Max see anything?" she prods gently. "And you said the banes weren't quite the same?"

Signe continues to growl, though it's not particularly agitated. "No one saw anything within the light. It avoided us. Stayed in the dark. The moment we stepped out of the light, though, we got hit. The /moment/."

Yi considers this. "The rat spirit, came towards you and into the light, right Sepdet?" she asks the Strider.

Sepdet admits, "I forced it out towards us. I wasn't sure /what/ those things were in the side passages and wanted a look."

"What happened with Julie's lights?" The Gnawer newmoon queries the Get, perhaps a little more wary of the Jarl's mood.

Signe sniffs, "They lit up and then popped. I don't know if the banes did something to break them, because they /were/ hurting them, or if the jury-rigged things just didn't work well."

Owen rubs his knees for a moment. "Well, I know some don't attack by blows. The one on me hurt me none." He then looks back up over at Signe. "Oh, hey. It worked. That Gift."

Yi muses. "They didn't attack outright... so perhaps they are just guards for some outer perimeter."

"...Yeah," comes Kaz's voice as she pushes in the doors, "Nine feet tall an' snarlin'? Sometimes, it's like hittin' a fly with a tac nuke. Not that that ain't obvious, but I'm into statin' the obvious." The metis has a couple of grocery bags with her, and she's talking to the Max right behind her, and is in fact facing her. At voices, she turns around, blinking.

Sepdet waves a hand towards the two arrivals. "Trouble one and two. We were just comparing catch on last night's hunting parties. Care to join after you've put away supplies?"

Signe lifts a boot to the pew she was leaning on and steps up to sit on the back, irreverently. Her head turns to catch Max and Kaz's entrance, and the Get shrugs her shoulders, adjusting the jacket along the line of her shoulders.

Kaz just dumps the groceries on a pew. "What about last night?"

Yi looks pensive with a nearly fully drunken Coke in hand, sitting on one of the pews nearer the dais. "What about getting a more recent map of the city sewers? I don't think much came from a plot of simply manholes." She thinks some more. "And I suppose the city doesn't take care of its sewers the same way it's supposed to take care of its park fountains."

Signe waves a hand at her ex-packmate and says, "We were wondering how easy it would be, and how to go about, lighting up the sewers semi-permanantly. In the umbra, with weaver and light spirits, and in the realm with generators and the like."

Kaz blinks. "JD'n Jules'd be the people t'ask, Realmwards. An' maybe this Agatha chick. Y'can steal the power just fine, but it'll take awhile."

Max follows Kaz in, a few hula hoops slung over her arm. She slides a gaze around the room, a look of disappointment flickering briefly over her face before it's replaced with her more usual smirk. She heads over to Signe and offers her a hoop. "Broughtcha somethin', Mama Get."

Signe blinks, turning from the discussion and eying the young Gnawer. The hoola-hoop gets a curious, even puzzled look before she asks, "What's this for?"

Yi drains the rest of her Coke, keeping the empty can in her hand for a small while as she stands up with some thought. "I'll see what I can do about wires," she says to the group though it's more like she's thinking aloud. With that, she moves to the end of the pew near the wall and slips out.

Sepdet looks over at the hoop curiously as well, still perched backwards on a pew somewhere over by Signe and Owen.

Owen takes a moment to clear his throat, peering at the hoop to see if it's pink.

Elan walks in through the front doors, whistling a tune to himself.

Max answers simply with a challenging glimmer to her gaze. "Yo' groove thang, chica." It most certainly is not a pink hoop. It's green. With a white stripe.

Signe continues to look puzzled, and for the briefest moment there's a paranoid, dark cast to the Get's eyes as she regard Max. Her gaze flickers to Kaz, awaiting the dutiful translation.

Kaz flops into a pew. "It's just a present," mutters Kaz. Evidently, she's not /that/ good a translator, sometimes. Or perhaps she doesn't want to explain. Then she levers up again. "Boss!"

Max amends under her breath. "Chica-/rhya/." Signe's response seems to deflate the ragabash some. She shrugs and mumbles a 'what-ever-' and heads back toward the foyer and up into the balcony, if the sound of her footsteps are any indication. She still has two other hoops.

Signe lets Max get about halfway to the balcony before she calls out. "Hey, Gnawer."

There's no response at first. Perhaps Max doesn't realize she's the afforementioned Gnawer. But she emerges with a sneeze above the others and only partly visible. So many uses for the balcony, so little time. After a bit, she peers over the edge at the others, including Signe.

Sepdet remains puzzled, and stares after the younger Gnawer with raised eyebrows. But her attention slides back quickly to the matter at hand. "So what did you all see? I'm still trying to get a picture of the two kinds of banes Owen mentioned were there." Man, the Strider's persistent. "We found Harbor park clear except for fear-spirits, and then slime to the north with grabby bits, and things keeping out of our lights. Also something large moving off towards Osprey Circle that we decided not to pursue all the way there."

Owen seems disappointed that Signe's hoop is merely green. He leans back to try and explain to the Strider once more.

Signe leaves Owen to explain the nature of the one bane she saw, since he had a better ide aof what it was, anyway. She slips off the pew and heads toward the balcony, and Max, nodding to Elan on her way over. She puts the hoola hoop on her shoulder as she climbs up to where Max is hovering.

Elan folds his arms and simply listens, and watches as Sepdet and the Get speak. He does flash a smile at Kaz, though.

Max disappears from view again as Signe moves toward the steps in the foyer. Soon there's a strange rattling-hissing sound from upstairs.

Kaz says, "Didn't /see/ anything. Everythin' hid from the light. Got jumped by banes made've, like, darkness, though. Once there wasn't no light." She shoots a grin back to Elan, but some of her attention is on Signe and Max, now. The noise raises her eyebrow.

[And I jetted off to dinner.]