Basil's First Umbral Jaunt

4/24/2005

07:01 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.

Currently the moon is in the waning Full Moon phase (94% full).
It is currently 18:37 Pacific Time on Sun Apr 24 2005.
Currently in Saint Claire, it is mostly cloudy. The temperature is 47 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the east at 3 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.17 and steady, and the relative humidity is 86 percent. The dewpoint is 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius.)

Big Red Barn(#3420RA)
The barn is built in the old style, a vast three level structure that is greater in height than a mere three stories, actually closer to five. Great wooden posts support the weight of the upper levels and roof, sunk into the hard-packed dirt floor of the first level like a sparse forest of regularly spaced, naked trees. The stalls and flagstones which once were here have been torn out to leave a rather open area where even crinos Garou may roam freely without fear of running into anything but the supports or the walls or the ladder at the back which allows access to the other two levels.
The first two levels are relatively open to each other, the second being only little wider than a catwalk going around all the walls but the front one, which has massive, twenty foot tall doors set into it. The third level is a true second floor except for a place cut out that allowed hay to be tossed down to the ground floor when the farm was actually worked. Now, it is a hayloft where Garou can sleep outside of the house.
(Non-Garou, please "+view curse")
Obvious exits:
BarnYard  

The chill weather brings the Bone Gnawer ragabash out of the city for some reason, stepping into the barn after a bit of a run. Well, more than a bit, evidenced by the flush of her cheeks and the quiet, but slowing breaths she takes. Yi takes the bandanna off her head and wipes her face with it instead, revealing the short-short hair that is still on its way towards growing back. Her destination is foretold by her eyes, as she looks towards the interior of the barn with intent towards the worn punching bag that held up via a chain on a support beam.

Basil is sitting on a haystack when Yi enters, his shirt hanging around his neck. A thin layer of dirt and sweat still shows on his torso, seeming to have just finished exercising. He just watches sensing something different with the way the woman walks and how she enters the barn, his breathing slowing down as to try and keep her attention off him for a moment.

Yi isn't utterly unaware, though, and as she enters her head swings side to side, eyes picking out things. Her footsteps are quiet, not unlike a passing cat's soft padding. Coming in a few feet more, the light from the cracks catches on her chokechain looped around her neck, glinting off the metal. It's then that she hears, rather than sees, Basil- his breathing. "Good evening," she says aloud finally. "I trust, I haven't interrupted anything?" Her eyes swivel towards the cub's direction.

Basil lowers a hand to the straw covered ground beneath him, pushing himself up to his feet then owing to Yi. "No, Yi-Rhya. I've already finished my exercise for the night, I was just resting for a few minutes. What of yourself? Did you come here looking for Christine? I'm not sure where she is, really. Probably taking a shower or sleeping." He shrugs, glancing upwards towards Christine's 'room' in the barn.

Yi clears her throat lightly, nodding once to the front of the statement before she smirks at the cub. "Do you always think I'm here to find Christine?" The ragabash turns to face the cub more fully. "And, I thought I have told you to just call me Yi."

Basil looks back down to Yi, chuckling for a moment. "Well I live in the house now, so I didn't think you were looking for me. And I couldn't think of another reason why you'd come to the barn, being that you live in the city." He brushes his palms off on his jeans then sticks his hands in his pockets, shaking his head. "It's a full moon, you know. I've been calling *everyone* Rhya."

Yi tilts her head at the logic, but shrugs a shoulder. "I almost always come by the barn first," she tells him candidly, "although if I see no one, some times I will go to the farm instead. This is usually where the new cubs are to be found, no?" She approaches the cub, looking him up and down. "Hmmm..." the ragabash hums lowly, thoughtfully. "How are your clothes?" After a moment's pause before the cub can answer, she adds, "How is your spirit?"

Basil says "Yeah, I guess so. Being as how most of the cubs want to avoid the people that are at the house, or everyone all together, they end up out here. When they are allowed to be out here, anyways." He glances up one more time into the loft, then back to the Gnawer. "Heh. You mean my spirit, or the spirit of my clothes? Both are fine I think. I'm in an ok mood save for the lingering boredom of being out in the middle of nowhere. Until this moon passes, I'm shit out of luck."

Yi nods again, thoughtful but a little tense as well. "If you are bored," she says slowly, considering her options, "Then I think it would be good for you and I to have a small journey?" The ragabash tilts her head again this time to the other side, gaze considering.

Basil grins suddenly at the Ragabash and walks towards her, pulling on his shirt in mid stride. "As if I would pass that up. Now your talking, I could do to get out of this place. It isn't so bad, I mean Emma and I spent some time in the woods the other day. But still. Where are we going to go, teach?" He walks past Yi over to the large heavy doors of the barn, leaning on one of them.

Yi gestures out towards the door. "It will be woods," she answers him, "but not the same woods you have been through now. It will be the True woods. We will go to the caern."

Basil stands up straight again, giving the door a few inches clearance and stretching out his shoulders. The fatigue from his earlier exercises are momentarily forgotten, overcome by the anticipation that seeing something new brings. "Should I shift then? How are these woods different then the woods I've already roamed?"

Yi smiles in an enigmatic way, but shakes her head. "We will shift when we are in the woods, closer to the bawn. As for how they are different, I think you will see for yourself." She leads the way out, checking out the immediate vicinity of the barnyard while she waits for the cub to exit as well, closing the door behind them. "So what have you been up to, aside from the daily exercises, and the daily boredom?"

Basil lets his shoulders go a little more loose now that it's clear he won't be shifting, relaxing his posture into a bit of a slouch. "Alright. Groovy." He starts to walk out beside her, keeping an eye out for anyone else or anything out of the ordinary. The stories he's heard in recent days about the traitor cub, and the knowledge of an 'enemy base' nearby don't sit well with him as of late. "Oh, you know. The usual. Cruising the mall for hot chicks, clubbing, drinking, looking for a date to the prom and doing my homework. Tomorrow I'm going to eat some funny mushrooms and dance naked in the Umbra."

Yi laughs softly, listening to the listing of faked activities. "Sounds like you've been having fun," she notes to him, walking through the woods as it were, at a slowed pace. A stroll. One purposefully meant to take time. "Have you come to better terms with Christine?" she asks after a long moment.

Basil pays more attention to Yi as the time goes by and less attention to his surroundings, but enough so that when in the woods he doesn't trip. "I wish I was. And no, I haven't really gotten on better terms with her... Or seen, or talked to her much. When she wants to talk to me again, we can talk. Until then, I won't force her."

[To the Caern]

By the Waterfall
The walls of the canyon surrounding the caern reach upwards to 30 feet here, their highest point. At 20 feet up, a small underground spring exits the rock face. The water spills playfully down the rock face, carressing the cliff's face. The chilled flow, upon eentering the placid, shallow, chilled pool of water at the bottom, creates tiny ripples in the puddle's surface. A light, mist rises up from the ground, chilling to the bone.
The forest surrounding the caern's border is far less dense than the rest of the nearby forest. Scattered, centuries-old oaks stand majesticly over their fallen, decaying, moss-covered commrades. This peculiarity seems to surround only the area just outside the caern.
To the west, cool mist kicked up by the falls mingles with warmer steam from geothermal sources; these mists swirl around the caern to the north. The caern's center lies northwest of here. You can pick out what seems to be a hazardous trail over rock and up the wall, to the side of the waterfall.
Obvious exits:
Steam Vents  Center  Windy Spot  Up the Trail  

"That is a good policy," Yi says with a nod as they walk. "But, I am worried she may feel abandoned by the good, still. I should speak with Olga about her, but between her and me, we both have things to do, and Olga seems to have taken to her better than I." The ragabash leads the way all the way to the caern, a pace slow and deliberate. About the time they reach the heart, the feeling of the caern's effects are more prominent. Yi fidgets a little, slipping her hands out of her pockets and rotating a shiny obsidian-black stone around her knuckles as she walks. "What do you think of our cause so far, Basil?"

Basil bows his head to Yi, glancing constantly between her and the terrain in front of him. He isn't used to anything besides the smooth, even terrain of sidewalks and pavement yet, but at least he hasn't tripped. "She may, but I think in time she'll come around. She's a good person, and I think she'll want to do some good. It's just a matter of convincing her we aren't monsters damned to die by God's pissed off and vengeful hand. You know?" He digs into one pocket and comes up with a lollypop, stripping of it's wrapper and sticking it in his mouth. Basil almost tosses the wrapper but remembers where he is, stuffing it in his pocket instead. He was hardly expecting Yi to suddenly ask him a more serious question. His eyes sweep across the new area of the Caern he's yet seen and a smile comes to the young man's face. "Well." He starts, removing the sucker from his mouth, looking off at the waterfall. "It's like this. I don't think we're going to win. I don't think we can, and the world ending is probably... Eventual. But I can't run from this, at least not until I get through my Rite. By then I'll see things more clearly. If I like you all still, and think this is the right thing to do... I'll stay. If I don't, I'm just going to go away somewhere. Somewhere without a lot of people, where it's beautiful like this."

Yi nods slowly, but there is something about her expression that reveals she doesn't feel settled. When Basil unwraps the lollipop, the Gnawer freezes, staring at him. "Basil," she says after a swallow down, and resumes walking, "My packmate is a fostern, and the caern's Groundskeeper. I myself am the child of Stag, in a pack of Honor. Why am I telling you this?" she asks rhetorically, her pace quickening with the sun's set. "Because, cub, if any of the Guardians, the Warder, or the Groundskeeper find your trash on the bawn or in the caern; if they smell the candy and the plastic warpper, and your scent all attached to this, it will be /my/ head on the line with them all." She says this grimly, but continues forth once they finally reach the caern and start towards the waterfall. "Leave that wrapper and the candy in your shirt. We will be going into the Umbra tonight."

Basil shakes his head over at Yi. "I'm not a total idiot or a pig, you know. I won't drop trash on the holy ground, as I know thats a one way ticketed to a bruised ass. Besides, it's just fucking disrespectful. Wouldn't trash something I liked." He sucks on the bit of sugar again then cracks it with his teeth, munching it down quickly to satisfy Yi. He puts the stick in his pocket then grins widely at Yi, stopping in his tracks. "We're going in? Really? You better not be teasing me, 'cause... Well, I'll tickle you! When are we going? Right now? Here?"

As the two approach the large pool near the waterfall, the hiss of the steam vents further out, and the steady muted roar of the falls makes it a little harder to hold quiet conversation. "Yes," Yi says to the cub. "We will go tonight, because the moon is full and that is the safest of the times to go. However, before we go Basil I will warn you of the things that you are about to see." She takes a deep breath. "First, before we even approach the Umbra, to do so you must reach into yourself. There is another world- the world of spirits- that is hidden by what the Garou here call the Gauntlet. Where I am from, it is the Wall. But either way, it must be passed through in order to even begin to step into the Shadow realm." She watches him carefully, to make sure he is listening. "You must always be concentrating on reaching to the spirit world. Always. To break your concentration could kill you, and to that I am not teasing at all." And by her expression, no she's not joking. "You might feel a little sick. That is ok. Just concentrate on feeling your spirit, and feeling yourself 'travel' to the other world. I will help guide you through the first time. Once we are through, if nothing has gone wrong, you will see that the world is very different in the Umbra. And everything... /Everything/ should be treated as if it were a spirit. And, you do not want to anger the spirits."

Basil's attention is on Yi and only Yi when she starts talking about the spirit world. It's clear in his eyes and from the intent look on his face that he's soaking it all in like a sponge. "Reach into myself? Focus on just myself, my thoughts? Should I not think at all?" He grimaces when he hears it could kill him, perhaps the one thing that could curve his curious nature. "How does it kill you? Shit, another thing to worry about." His nose wrinkles up, his eyes sweeping away from Yi and around the beautiful scenery. Somehow it seems a little darker all of a sudden to him. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, willing himself to grow larger into the form of near man. "I'll do my best for you, Yi, and will respect the spirits as if they were my Elder."

Yi reaches out with a hand to place it upon the cub's shoulder, as if to steady him if he were physically wobbling on his feet. "You will understand when we are through and you see the Shadow. Here at the caern, it is much safer than reaching across in the city. /Much/ safer. We should be ok." She then gestures to a part of the pool near the waterfall where the night sky reflects darkly, creating a rippling black well, its depths far deeper than any unknown. "Take your shirt off and leave it by this pool's edge. We will come back to it. Then, kneel beside the pool and look at yourself. Then, look /into/ yourself. If I must find a way to describe it, 'Look inside yourself,' Basil. And you will see, that there is 'He' who lives in you." Cryptic, sure, but hopefully she can guide the cub through. The ragabash utters a short, foreign-tongued prayer.

Umbra: Center of the Caern
A subtly spine-vibrating thrum of power issues once again from the once-dead caern, pricking hairs and fur. Slowly but surely, the rejuvinating actions of the Garou have slowly been transforming the recently spiritually dead caern back into something befitting a caern. The caern is once again alive with a variety of spirits, though spirits of war seem a rarity now, and Wendigo spirits are never seen. The caern, visually, falls just short of the wildest rural utopia imaginable. Only hints of the previous pollution remain--slightly less than green grass, young sapling trees where there ought to be mighty oaks and pines--and these are things that, with time and care, should eventually replace what was lost.
The air crackles with tingles of spiritual potency, though it's obvious to Garou who'd witnessed the caern earlier that the caern just isn't quite as powerful and potent as it was before the BSD invasion.
Contents:
Basil
Little Raven
Obvious exits:
South  North  West  

Basil strips off his shirt beside the pool as instructed, throwing it down on the ground on his right. He doesn't respond to what Yi has to say but merely follows her instructions, staring intently down at the part of the pool she's gestured to. He falls to his knees and sits back on them, placing his hands on his knees. "Heaven, help me make this... God help me if I don't." He half murmurs, staring into the inky blackness reflected before him. Though his mind is racing his thoughts slowly die and leave but silence in his mind. Without realizing it, the cub stops blinking. His breathing slows down then stops entirely just before he vanishes from the physical realm, the Glabro disappearing across the gauntlet. He lurches forward when he finds himself on the other side and nearly falls on his face, his hands shooting out to stop the fall. "S.. Shit, I think I'm going to throw up." He grunts out in a pant, gasping for air.

Yi is not far behind, and in little less time but the same amount of effort, the ragabash steps sideways, spirit piercing into the thinned Gauntlet of the caern and ending up in the Penumbra. The ragabash 'breathes' out slowly into the Shadow-air, though it's less like breathing as it is, and more like attuning one's spiritual lungs to the environs.

Basil remains in his position on all fours, quite vulnerable in his current state. After about a half minute of heavy breathing Basil calms down, not quite noticing the subtle changes around him but feeling light in the stomach. "Ugh... I'm not dead. Am I?" He opens his eyes to stare down at the grass beneath him, noting some sort of subtle change he can't quite place his finger on. "Yi? Are you here Yi?" He lifts his head too quickly and soon regrets it, a hand rising to his head which quickly bows. "I feel like I've been kicked in the goddamned stomach, the head, then spun around in a jet plane piloted by a monkey on crack."

Yi is there, though she remains quiet for a moment. There's a wariness about the Gnawer ragabash now that they're on the flipside of things, before she turns to the cub and walks over the pace or two from behind him. "I am here," she notes to him, herself shifting upwards to that of the warform instead of remaining in her birth. Not long is the change, as red and ivory fur sprout from her clothing and mass. When the ragabash has taken another heavy sniff of the air, she leans down and rumbles to the cub, ~Welcome to the Umbra - World of the Spirits.~

Wingbeats cut the air with a deep thudding sound, followed by the rustle of feathers and the creak of wood. A grating, throaty sound breaks across the otherwise still and quiet environs. One on sapling barely able to hold its weight, a sizeable raven has come to rest, the sound coming from its open beak. Settling its feathers into place and canting its head, the inky black bird lets out another deep, gravelly caw and regards the two Garou with glittering eyes.

Basil sighs in deep relief once he's reassured by the sound of Yi's voice, feeling a sense of security in knowing she is there with him. But the knowledge that things are not as they are in the physical world, that anything and everything is possible, and where inanimate things could suddenly speak to him... It puts the cub on edge, to say the least. He stands after taking another moment to right himself, pushing himself up by his knuckles into a heavily slouched stand. The distinct sound or rather, series of sounds the shifting of a Garou makes gets Basil's attention, causing him to look back at her. "Should I shift? I can't talk in that form yet." The mangled language reaching his ears makes his head tilt, having clearly understood most of it. "I'll never get used to the wa-" His talking dies off and his vision pitches upwards to the sky, the Garou looking intently over at the bird which makes it's presence known.

Three-Blades swivels her ears towards the cawing as well, followed by her eyes that way. The Gnawer's fur lifts slightly then smoothes out. ~Shift if you want,~ she replies to the cub, apparently immersing him in not just the wacky world of the Umbral realm, but drowning him in Mother's Tongue as well. She looks back to the raven, head cocking with a greeting chuff. Of course, that isn't to say she hasn't greeted the lunes, or the air-spirits, or the ground-spirits, or anything else within the immediate vicinity.

The raven swivels its head in the opposite cant as before, getting an eyeful of the pair with each bright eye. Basil gets an extra bit of consideration, the bird's wings mantling slightly as it listens to the words coming from each. The chuff draws forth a somehow softer caw, the raven's head dipping forward slightly in a movement that might be a return of greeting. Focusing its sharp eyes on Basil again, the long beak cracks open before a somewhat different sound escapes it, ~Crack? Broken?~ A note of curiousity creeps into the words, strange as the sound coming from the depths of the raven's beak.

Basil decides that the Umbra is a dangerous place and it's not the time to be screwing around. With no Veil to worry about the cub shifts up to his war form, white and black fur sprouting from his skin. It doesn't take him as long to grow as it once did, his training finally starting to pay off. He doesn't look too sure of himself on his longer, stronger feet, but he's remaining upright and doesn't look like he's about to fall over. ~Better this way. Less worried.~ Noting Yi's greeting to the avian he bows his head respectfully after a moment's hesitation, lifting his gaze back up quickly. His ears remain perked and high above the lupine's head, alert for the threats the spirit world may bring. When the spirit speaks he isn't quite sure how to respond, wondering briefly how intelligent spirits are, glancing at Yi.

Three-Blades' pinkish tongue runs out of her muzzle to lick at one side, her ear cocking back at the spirit's Garou-tongued inquiry. She glances to the cub as he too shifts, rumbling a low precaution. ~Beware of the moon's influence on your Rage, Long-Wind.~ The use of the cub's deedname is easier to understand, and easier on her half-wolven form for communications. ~The Umbra,~ she also adds, ~is a strange place, don't you think?~ As the raven hasn't come closer, but has spoken to them, the ragabash keeps a bit of her attention on the ephemeral bird.

Pulling its head back up and shaking itself all over, the raven observes the exchange for a moment and preens its feathers. Hiding its beak under one wing, it tips is head up to stare one-eyed at the Garou. A muffled caw under the wing and the bird pulls its head back up, launching itself into the air with three beats of its wings and gliding to another sapling. The wood groans and bows slightly under the bird's weight, akin to a large housecat, as the bird settles its impressive wingspan and turns to face the Garou again. It reiterates its questions in that deep gravelly voice, ~Crack? Crack broken?~

Basil shuffles his feet on the ground to get his bearings, making sure that his dizziness has subsided. ~Is it even stronger, here? The madness inside...?~ He looks down in front of him at his clawed hands, opening and closing them briefly before looking back up again. He tenses visibly when the bird moves then relaxes when it settles again, his eyes following it the entire time, almost losing it. ~I don't understand. What do you mean?~ The cub ask, his speech slower and more deliberate then Yi's.

Sooty wings mantle, holding out from the bird's body in response, a faint hiss coming from its throat. ~Crack! You broken?~ the spirit says, drawing the words out with a similar slowness in a faintly derisive tone. ~Wolf-baby!~ it caws, resettling itself on the branch agitatedly and craning its neck out as far as it will go.

Three-Blades watches these proceedings with a faint, slow wag of her black tail. The ragabash, though, doesn't seem to provide any answers to what the raven is asking. The wolf-babe comment, however, garners a bit of a whuffling laugh. ~I think, Long-Wind, it asks if you are ok. And not going to lose your dinner.~

Basil can't help but wonder at this point if he's pissing off the spirit, the flesh on his muzzle just before his nose crinkling up a bit. He still doesn't quite grasp what it means, staring at it and trying to respond. ~Not broken. Just young. New to this.~ He folds his paws in front of him then glances back at Yi for a moment, sighing in a heave of his large furry chest. ~Oh. No, Spirit... I am fine.~

The bird seems pacified by the answer, lowering its wings and giving a gravelly chuckling sound. ~Cracked wolf leaks. Fur-chick not leaking. Good.~ the raven rasps enigmatically, preening a feather or two back into place. ~Two-legs new four-legs? Go chase-tail-bite-tail?~ Inky eyes bore into Basil sharply, glimmering with new interest.

Three-Blades looks from cub to raven, then back again. There's a rather humored slant to her ears as she regards Basil, noticing how interested the raven-spirit is to him. ~Try introducing yourself,~ she encourages. ~This is your first time here. Might as well have fun.~

Basil seems to ease up in his tenseness when it doesn't seem the bird is on the verge of pecking him. When it's mentioned he's leaking, the Homid tilts his head and looks downwards. For a minute he stares, wondering about something before looking back to the bird. Urged by Yi's words he takes a few steps forward and bows respectfully to the bird, keeping his head lowered. ~Two-Legs, Long Wind Ahroun cub, Bone Gnawers.~ His mother's tongue is still somewhat broken but coming along.

A coughing sound is given to the elder Gnawer, the sound very much like a lupine chuff with a slight echo, and it manages to sound good-natured. Fixing one dark eye on Basil again, the bird sits very still through the introduction, a trilling caw tumbling from its beak. ~Name! Fur-chick names! Cuts teeth on bone, does it? Bone crack, break, leak, spill secrets. You catch secrets, Two-Legs?~ The wings spread again as the bird makes a short hop and glide to land on the ground a little ways from its branch. ~Gosdu catch secrets, find secrets, keep secrets.~

Three-Blades dips her muzzle, as if to affirm the bird's words. ~Bone Gnawer, no-moon. Three-Blades,~ she indicates for herself. Watching the bird at first, there is a bit of an eased smile from the ragabash before she looks to the cub, gauging his reaction and understanding.

Basil lifts his eyes to the bird again, trying to figure out the speech of the thing. ~I do not catch many secrets. I catch mostly... Flak.~ He starts after a moment of hesitation, wondering if bones really do contain secrets. ~Are you Gosdu? Do you know many secrets?~

~Secrets! Gosdu has many! Not share them with Two-Legs or he be Two-Legs-Chase-Tail....or Chase-Legs!~ The raven caws, spreading its wings out and lifting them slightly while giving a strange twist of its head at Basil. A distinct amusement colors the raven's speech at the ahroun. The ragabash, however, gets a draw back of the posture and a look of respect. ~Some secrets, know you, ones hidden in dark moon when things go scurry-scurry. Shiny secrets, deep in pools of darkness where hunters lie.~ The bird paces a little closer, then hops forward twice on both clawed feet.

Three-Blades rumbles again, a ~yes~ in affirmation of the spirit's words, also a twinge of admiration for the raven's clever wisdom of the Garou. ~I know many secrets,~ she notes with a glance to Basil. ~What about you, Long-Wind?~

Basil tilts his head further one one side, the Garou's eyes watching the bird carefully as it draws closer. ~What is the point of keeping secrets?~ He ask, questioning the spirit but in a respectful tone. He glances back at Yi and gives her a shake of his large head. ~Any secrets I have, I've probably already told you.~

Gosdu hisses at Basil, eyeing him sharply with beak open and a slight bit of disbelief. ~Secrets! Must have secrets! Not all know all, it is always such! Tell not something, secret it becomes! Hide and become secret! All is secret to Gosdu. Wise wolf knows, sees secrets on three sides, holds all.~ The bird continues to hop towards Basil undaunted, though its posture is not threatening at all, instead curious at his apparent lack of secrets. ~Secrets you must learn, wisdom they hold, lessons, too!~ Squawking in mock-indignation, the bird stops and ducks its beak shyly under one wing, ~Gosdu share secret! See!~

Three-Blades doesn't hide the lupine smile now, agreeing with the bird spirit. She looks at the raven's path towards the cub, though, her amusement held still and under leash. ~Find wisdom in the raven's words, Long-Wind. She has shared with you a secret of hers. To be fair, you should do the same. Think. Think first, deeply, and then speak.~

Basil turns his attention back to the bird and pauses, thinking on the spirit's words. ~Information equals... Power. But if you don't use it to get power, and only keep it to yourself... Does it remain powerful?~ He looks back at Yi and lets out another breathy sigh, turning his attention back to the bird. ~Let me think for a moment, please.~

Gosdu lets another trilling caw slip from its beak, drawing to a stop scant feet from the cub, close enough that the faint iridescent sheen on the bird's black feathers is visible. It seems that in this much, at least, the prying bird is willing to be patient, beak resting half open as waiting for a secret to fall like a shiney bauble from Basil's maw.

Three-Blades too, waits with a sort of interested curiosity to what Basil might tell the raven-spirit. She on the other hand, reveals little.

Basil stares down into the eyes of the spirit very intently, then after a few minutes of sitting in absolute silence he blinks. His large black nose twitches, the Crinos' eyes shifting from left to right as if in a bad spy movie. ~You... Won't tell anyone?~ He ask with a bit of anxiety in his voice.

The squawk that Gosdu lets out is definitely indignant this time, but the raven shakes its feathers out and takes a step or two closer. ~Secret it is! No share will Gosdu. Gosdu share, you share, all is balance.~ The bird doesn't really promise, but it stills and almost seems to listen with respectful politeness for the cub's secret.

Basil places his paws with about a foot's space on either side of the bird, making his movements go very slowly as to not make it look like he's grabbing for it. Hesitation shows in his moments as he eeks his way down to the bird, lowering his head so that it's level with the avian's. The Garou leans as close to the bird as he can, raising a cupped paw to his muzzle, speaking in an almost inaudible whisper to the bird.

Three-Blades meanwhile, looks off as if to respect the cub's privacy, so that what Mother's Tongue must be used in body language, she does not see.

Craning its head up towards the cub, Gosdu is the picture of attentiveness with beak opening more, eagerly. The bird seems at the moment unphased by the Garou's proximity, perhaps trusting in the impromptu bargain of sharing to keep its neck from getting wrung or the like.

Three-Blades waits for a good time, but has an ear cocked backwards to listen for anything that might indicate distress from either party. Then, after what she thinks is appropriate enough time to share a secret, the ragabash looks back. Rumbling deep in her chest, the no-moon seems to be pleased at this exchange. Her tail wags slightly behind her.

Basil looks quite awkward after having whispered whatever it was to the bird, looking promptly over to one side. He pushes himself up to his feet, peering at the bird. ~I am sorry, but that is the only thing I know.~ He shuffles his feet and looks off at the saplings, hoping the bird flies *far* far away.

Gosdu lets its head drop back down, regarding the cub for a moment with respect. Dipping the soot-feathered head low to the ground, the bird backs up slowly, enough to regard both Garou. ~Secret shared, secret kept. Two-Legs safe in Gosdu, not forget, not spill, not leave for secret-hunters.~ Backing up a bit more the raven turns and launches itself upwards, wingbeats thudding through the air as it gains momentum and height. Wheeling around the pair, Gosdu turns a few tricks in the air, the last sending it diving at the cub's head like an arrow. It seems as if the bird will graze Basil's head, but it puls up a bit at the last moment and brushes with a shock of air by first him and then Three-Blades. ~Keep secrets safe, Two-Legs, Three-Blades! Good winds, good hunting!~ the bird calls in one last, and wings its way across the Umbral landscape, an ephemeral feather or two floating down in its wake.

Three-Blades sends up a howl of good will towards the swiftly disappearing raven. Her curiosity doesn't die off as the bird flaps away. In fact, she's even more curious now, giving the cub a really long look. It's almost like she's waiting for him to share with her what he shared with the bird, but before the silence gets too uncomfortable, she gestures back to the Umbral pool where the falls should be. ~Shall we return to the Realm?~ she asks him instead.

Basil lifts his paw before him and closes his eyes, drawing a cross in a silent 'Thank God' as the bird flies off. He ducks when it gets closer and nearly falls to one knee, turning to wave at the bird when it leaves. ~Goodbye, Gosdu. Safe flying!~ He calls out after the bird. When he's left along with the other Garou he turns back to her, tilting his head once again. ~What?~ He flashes a smile that looks more like a snarl, but one that isn't reflected in his eyes. He walks over to her, giving the Ragabash a light nudge in the shoulder with his. ~I think so... Before I must tell any more secrets. Thank you, Yi... Thanks a lot.~

Three-Blades splays an ear in humor, but nods with a dip of her muzzle in human gesture. ~Go first. Remember we are in the spirit. This time, it will be different, but the same. From flesh and bone to spirit, but this time, from spirit to flesh and bone.~

Basil bows his head to the elder Garou, taking his time in walking back to the same spot they broke through. He falls to his knees once more, resting his knuckles on the ground on either side of him. His breathing grows deep as he tries to think straight again, pushing the thoughts of the secret aside after concentrating. ~See you on the other side.~ He half mumbles, then goes into an almost trance like state besides the pool of water. The spiritual form of the Garou lingers but bit by bit he slides across the gauntlet, fading back into existence.

Back | Next | 2005 Logs | Main