Crossroads

[hazlogs]

Currently in Saint Claire, it is a cloudy day. The temperature is 51 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the south at 9 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 29.76 and rising, and the relative humidity is 86 percent. The dewpoint is 47 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius.) For more detail, see: http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=98501

It is currently 08:01 Pacific Time on Sat May 21 2016.

Currently the moon is in the waxing Full (Ahroun) Moon phase (99% full).

Caern: The Stone Firepit

A subtle undulation of the land forms an curious, natural spiral in the open ground. One side of the formation rises to create a half-circle or crescent of earth surrounding and encompassing the spiral. The ground is littered with rock and flagstones, both large and small. Someone has carefully gathered up a trove of these and erected a clear fire pit. Flagstones with smooth surfaces have been laid along the upper lip of half circle of earth around the fire pit, turning it into a nice seating area. All debris and flammable material's been removed from within the spiral, and a fire has been laid. Just beyond the spiral's edge, wood has been collected and piled for future use. Surrounding this, the rugged walls of the canyon have been half buried by the Wyld surge, making the upper slope of the valley more gentle than it was before. Stands of Douglas fir and white pines mix with hemlock, lodgepole pines, and western larch trees to fill much of the open space, but the trees here are not nearly as dense as they are in the surrounding forests of the bawn. The sparse woods allows a partial view of the sky, and both sun and moonlight filter down to create enigmatic and beautiful shadow patterns on the forest floor. That floor is blanketed with a thick, soft rug of shed pine needles, lichen and leaf debris. The moss-covered relics of old, dead trees occasionally mark a place where once great sentinels loomed above.

The caern expands in two directions from here. The escarpment wall and raised dais form one point of the new triangle, while the center of the caern and its gigantic, Wyld-influenced tree marks the other. The only obvious way out of the caern is the valley slope that leads to the central bawn.

It is a beautiful, early morning, at least on this side of the woods. Who knows what is going on over at Edgewood. Stepping out of the treeline in a shimmer is the Glasswalker Ragabash, carrying a large backpack over her shoulder. She drops it down next to the firepit, then takes out some lighter fluid and some matches and goes about making a fire after gathering some wood over.

(OOC) To the caern, Brings-the-Pack says "Just as an FYI, the fire in the fire pit is generally kept going as part of the groundskeeper's duties. It's a spiritual aspect of the caern. Even if it looks like it went out, there's likely hot coals under the ash or somesuch. Yay, spirits."

(OOC) To the caern, Brings-the-Pack says "Or other people who visit the caern (but aren't in a given scene) just add something to the fire to keep it going. Thane, for instance, might have added wood recently. Or Jamethon. Or guardians. But I digress."

Brings-the-Pack exits from the woodline, seemingly having come from the direction that Edgewood would be in, possibly having returned from a patrol. He pauses to survey the caern, as if making sure it's intact as well.

So far, so good. Only Briari is out there, watching the fire pop and crackle as she taps away at her phone for a few moments, then slips out a carpi-sun from her backpack. Jabbing the yellow straw into the foil circle, she takes a quick sip. At the sight of the cougar, she tilts her chin upwards a bit. "Hey."

A skinny little red fox pokes her whiskery nose out from the undergrowth at the very edge of the caern clearing, sniff-sniffing cautiously. Then she trots out, shifting up through the forms to turn human as she walks toward the firepit, hands in the pockets of her big baggy jacket.

Brings-the-Pack focuses first on Briari and then on the fox-shifter as she emerges from the woods. "Good morning," he says, heading over on that direction, but stopping a good 20' away from the fire pit and the garou present there. He settles onto his haunches, indicating he's not intending to come any closer. "I saw no signs of enemy nearby just now."

Nodding her head, Briari asks, "Are they still hanging out at Edgewood as well, or are they still there?" She pushes herself upwards and dusts off her knees with a quick swipe of her hand. At the sight of the fox shifter, her eyes blink a few times. "Hi there." She says as she recognizes her from moot.

Briari stands at a fairly average height of five foot three with shoulder length curly blonde hair. Her eyes are a soft blue color. She has a lean, lanky build about her which appears built more for running than lifting. She tends to dress in boring jeans and shirts purchased at the local Hot Topic. Geekery shirts with logos of Adventure Time, My Little Pony, Futurama, Star Wars, etc. She rarely wears make up or jewelry. She has a bit of a southern tan complexion from living in Georgia.

Rabbit stops a little distance away as though shy, though maybe she's just being careful. Politely -- and rather deliberately, as if English isn't her best language -- she says, "Hello, Brings-the-Pack. Hello, Garou. I am Rabbit Digs Deep. Fox kit. Child of Turtle."

"I've not ventured over towards Edgewood since I was last there when the Spirals were fighting the garou for control of it. Val did recently mention doing a fly-over to check on a theory that the second wave of Spirals might not have been reinforcements, but instead a second group of Spirals at odds with the first." The cougar adds, "This is all speculative at this point."

Briari rubs at her nose a bit in thought, then shifts her gaze to one side as the gears inside her head are turning. "Huh." She trails off, then looks to Rabbit. "My name is Briari. They call me Follows The Money Down Darkest Paths. Fostern and Ragabash of the Glass Walkers. It's super cool to meet you!"

Rabbit pays close attention to Briari when the Walker gives her introduction, then echoes back to her, "Super cool," with a brief smile before she turns solemn again, what with Brings talking about Spirals (a term she apparently knows).

Brings-the-Pack slowly cants his head at Briari and then says, out of nowhere, "Your destiny appears to be at a critical crossroad."

Briari whips her head back to the cougar. "Huh? What'd you say? Why'd you say that?" Her eyes widen.

Rabbit also fixes her attention on the mage-cougar, going quite still as she does so. If she had fox ears on, they'd be perked.

"I sense it," the cougar-mage explains, as if such a thing might be obvious. "A crossroad is in your future. Be cautious and choose your path wisely."

Briari squints her eyes at him, then bites her lip firmly as she glances up and to the side. Her eyes start to water, followed by a loud sniff. "... okay now you're totes freaking me out dude."

Rabbit takes a few more steps closer and squats down, sitting on her heels, her eyes shifting back and forth between Brings and Briari. To the latter, she asks, "He is right? Cross-roads, different ways?"

"My apologies," the cougar-mage offers to the Walker. "I should not have spoken. I did not mean to upset you. Particularly on a full moon." He looks towards Rabbit as he says the latter, perhaps conveying a small tidbit of advice in the gesture. "Should I leave?"

".. What is going on though? What do you mean a crossroads? Am I going to die?" Briari asks as her eyes pop open wider.

Rabbit goes very still.

Brings-the-Pack responds to the assorted questions with, "I do not know. I only sense that you are coming upon a point of significant change soon. It might be death. It might not."

"Significant change?" Briari chews on her lip harder, then pushes herself up to her feet. She looks honestly terrified as she wrings her hands together. ".. I gotta tell Thane I can't do this anymore." She is heard to murmur under her breath.

Rabbit remains quiet and motionless, her eyes tracking Briari.

Brings-the-Pack looks towards Rabbit, head pointed directly at her, and his pupils glance momentarily to the left--away from Briari--before recentering his eyes and his head pivots back to Briari. He inquires curiously, "You are assisting Thane with something?"

As she starts to pace, Briari's hands become more frantic as they grip and writhe about each other. Her breathing has picked up and she feels a tightening in her chest. It seems that the overly-analytical chess player has just lost her cool. "It's c..clas... ssss..ified.."

Cautiously, unhurriedly, Rabbit stands up and steps away from Briari, moving closer to Brings-the-Pack; she never takes her eyes off the agitated Garou as she does so.

Brings-the-Pack opts to remain silent, perhaps not wanting to add anything else that might provoke the distressed Walker into a frenzy: fox or otherwise. He does, however, ease slowly back up onto all fours--as if debating the merits of a departure soon.

After a few seconds of hyper-ventilating, Briari takes in a deep breath, then snuffles. Wiping her wrist beneath her nose, she slips her phone out of her pocket and starts to tap away at it.

Rabbit retreats to what seems like a safe distance, maybe a yard or so away from the treeline, and stops, still watching.

Brings-the-Pack opts to follow Rabbit's lead in this instance, giving himself a little more distance from the Walker even as she seems to be piecing it back together. He asides quietly to the kit, "Be cautious around the garou, especially as the moon grows more full. They can be unpredictable sometimes."

"I can still hear you." Briari grumbles to herself as she slips the phone back into her pocket. "The last time you had a 'feeling', the house was attacked and the city went nuts. So, I suppose I should finalize my will." She says as she wipes at her eye.

Rabbit glances briefly at Brings-the-Pack and nods without saying anything.

"Edgewood did not die," the cougar-mage points out, raising his voice back to normal conversation levels. "It merely changed. It may no longer be in the hands of the garou or a place he garou visit or live, but it still exists. Change is not necessarily death."

"HA! Says the walking illusion pretending to be a cat. It's easy for you to say shit like that when you get to hang out in an apartment or something probably a hundred miles away, playing video games and projecting yourself like Casper the friendly cougar." Briari says with a snippiness to her voice. "What's a major change going to be? I become a cripple? I turn and join the Wyrm? I get lost in the Umbra and come back out a hundred years old? I fall into a river of balefire? Why would you even put that in my head for?" Her foot swings out and slams against the log bench next to the fire. With a deep sigh, she storms off through the woods, abandoning the pair.

Rabbit jumps a little at the 'HA!' going wide-eyed. When Briari kicks the log bench, the fox kit outright turns and flees, snapping down into her native vulpine form as she vanishes into the woods.

Brings-the-Pack starts slightly at the outburst, but then waits through the rest of it and the departure of both the wolf and fox shifter, leaving the caern to himself. He looks around and then heads over towards the now vacated fire pit, settling onto his haunches to meditate.