Meeting Isabel

1/23/2009

08:33 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.

Currently the moon is in the waning New Moon phase (14% full).
It is currently 20:30 Pacific Time on Fri Jan 23 2009.
Currently in Saint Claire, it is a cloudy day. The temperature is 33 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the northeast at 6 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.24 and rising, and the relative humidity is 92 percent. The dewpoint is 31 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius.)

By the Waterfall
The walls of the canyon surrounding the caern reach upwards to thirty feet here, their highest point. About two-thirds of the way up, a small underground spring exits the rock face. The water spills playfully down the cliff face, caressing the rocks and darting away, but always falling to gravity's inexorable pull. The flow, upon entering the shallow, chilled pool of water at the bottom, creates constant ripples in the puddle's surface. A light mist rises up from the ground near the pool, chilling to the bone.
The forest surrounding the caern's border is far less dense than the rest of the nearby forest, with ferns and clumps of aspen taking the place of white pine and birch. Scattered, centuries-old cedar stand majestically over their fallen, decaying, moss-covered comrades. 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.
Contents:
Isabel
Obvious exits:
Steam Vents  Center  Windy Spot  Up the Trail

Isabel sits cross-legged within the center of the Caern, hands resting on her knees, eyes closed and her lips curved up into a small, contented smile. A rattlesnake lounges within her lap, although under the poncho probably seeking what warmth can be gained. Its tail can be spotted, though, and parts of its sides that aren't completely covered.

A thin legged rusty-red and ivory colored wolf comes down the valley rim, walking down carefully along the path. Her steps are covered by sound of the waterfall and her path circles about the unfamiliar theurge. Gradually, Yi shifts back up to her homid form and greets more audibly, "Hello there?"

Isabel startles at the sudden voice, having been too deep in thought to notice Yi's approach, especially with the waterfall's help. She turns towards the Ragabash, her position shifting just enough to let more of that cold air in where the snake hides. The spirit doesn't seem to like /that/, and shows it by lashing out, sinking her fangs into the Theurge's arm. "Ow! Chu'mana!"

Yi startles a little bit herself, and it takes a moment to squint in the dark of night and peers a little closer. Once the ragabash realizes there's actually a snake, she sucks in a breath and she's already reaching to her pocket. "Don't... don't move..." cautions the Gnawer.

The snake does release Isabel's arm before turning her attention to Yi, tongue flicking out even as that tail begins to rattle. "Wait!" shouts Isabel, holding up her hand. "She's a friend! And spirit. Even if cranky."

Yi's hand freezes at the sound of the rattle, even before she is told to wait. Once Isabel appears okay, though, the fostern is slowly overcome with a confusion evident. "A spirit friend?" echoes the no-moon. "In the Realm?" Her hand slowly loosens and lowers back down to her side, and her stance shifts from its defensive posture to something more at ease. She lets out a breath, still eyeing the rattlesnake with concern.

Isabel lowers her hand to her arm, frowning as she eyes the bite. "Yes. Some spirits can materialize," informs Isabel helpfully before she speaks softer words in the spirit tongue to the snake. "I am Isabel Ruiz," she offers a moment after. "Unsolved-Mysteries, Theurge of the Uktena."

Taking small steps closer, Yi looks a little wary to approach but she comes a couple of steps closer. "I am Yi, Runs-the-Gauntlet, Fostern ragabash of the Bone Gnawers. What is the name of your spirit friend?" she asks slowly, definitely not making any sudden movements around the Uktena now.

Isabel lowers her eyes a touch in sudden respect. "Well met, Yi-rhya. Her name is Chu'mana. We've known each other for years, and she journeyed with me to this new home." She pauses then, speaking aside to the snake, likely repeating the Gnawer's intro, since the snake seems much calmer after.

Yi gradually lowers herself into a kneeling stoop with a wince for her right leg, a hand rubbing it firmly. However, once the snake's rattle stops she looks more eased. "And where did you journey from?" asks the ragabash curiously. She looks very distracted by the snake, though.

Isabel eyes her wound a bit more before she looks back up again, frowning lightly at the question. "Arizona. Visions brought us north, looking for a new home. And I am working on chiminage," she adds. "Talens for the Sept."

Picking up on that frown, Yi slows her pseudo-interrogation. "I have never been that far south," she says thoughtfully only, deciding to push out her leg rather than keep it folded. "And your-- Chu'mana, he? She? It? Your snake friend?"

"This is my first time this far north," comments Isabel with a faint smile, although her gaze is on the Gnawer's leg as she speaks. "She. How did you hurt your leg?"

Yi looks down to her leg and on the upswing of her gaze looks embarrassed. "Oh this. A fight from a long time ago. Giant skull pigs were attacking the bawn," she recalls, "and seeing my packmate in trouble at the time, I became rather cross at the Wyrmbeast attacking her. It bothers me now and then, especially when it gets cold."

Isabel hmms and nods. "I imagine it bothers you a great deal in this area, then. Sounds like you taught that foe a lasting lesson," she adds, her faint smile returning, and then her gaze moves to take in the surrounding area. "This really is a lovely Caern, very different from that of my former Sept."

Yi ratchets up a smile with the look around, laughing in agreement. "I think I may have buried that one's tusks somewhere out here," she says in a vague direction southwesterly of them. "It is much different from my birth home, too." As evidenced by her accent, she is far from it. "Have you gone to the city here?"

Isabel smirks as Yi motions south. "Not one to keep trophies?" She tilts her head curiously at the mention of Yi's birth home, but doesn't questions further. "No... Not yet. Although I must. Maybe. I need crystals for the talens I am making."

"Well maybe a few here and there," Yi says in a swaying vagueness. "But no, not in general. I usually end up losing them, or giving them away. Maybe it comes from being a Bone Gnawer? Who knows." A passing glance goes back towards the snake spirit where she'd last seen it. Then her eyes slips back to Isabel. "What sort of talens are these?" she asks curiously.

Chu'mana has slowly been making her way back into a warmer spot, although her head peeks out of the poncho, observing Yi curiously. "These will make journeys within the Umbra safer," explains Isabel. "Protect from most dangers, as long as nothing is /trying/ to hunt you."

"Ahh," Yi says with a small look towards the snake, then drags her gaze back to the theurge with a slow nod. "Do you know where you want to find these crystals? I admit, out here... I would not know where to look. But in the city? You could find much there, even crystals." She says so much in the way of an idea formulating right in front.

Isabel frowns softly, shaking her head. "Not yet, no. I was thinking the peddlers within the city might have something, and then perhaps I can trade... I've a feeling this city is larger than what I am used to."

Shaking her head too, Yi offers, "I can bring you with me some time if you feel you can stand the company of a Bone Gnawer in the city. Although your snake friend, Chu'mana, may find it less enjoyable. The Wall is strong there." A hand moves up to adjust her clothing at the neck, peering towards the scaled head again. "Or if you are willing to trade something in return, I could bring you what you need?"

"I will come alone," assures Isabel with a chuckle. "I /should/ see some of the city. Perhaps I will bring what I have with me, and I can still offer you some token in exchange for your aid."

Yi smiles broadly and in a way that for a moment, the theurge might catch a certain glimmer in the ragabash's eye to accompany it. "Great! Then I look forward to your coming with me. I shall remain on the bawn tonight, that much I know. Perhaps in the morning I will find you and we can go together?"

Isabel gives her own little grin, but with much less mischief, if any at all. "Yes, I will be nearby, or even meet you here if that would be easier. In the morning. How better to learn of the city but through the city tribes?"

Yi cants her head in a manner acknowledging of those words of wisdom and then makes to stand from the cold ground again, brushing off her pants. "Don't worry, I will find you in the morning. My tracking skills have not failed me on this bawn yet, and I pray they do not now." She dips her head cordially to the Uktena. "Gaia watch you, Isabel. And Chu'mana." And with that she turns, blurring up and down through her forms into the smaller lupus she'd come by in.

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