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<lj-cut="Natalie comes to Flash to learn a Rite.">
<pre>
4/9/04
Currently in Saint Claire, it's a sunny day. The temperature is 63 degrees
Fahrenheit (17 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from
variable directions at 7 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.30
and falling, and the relative humidity is 50 percent. The dewpoint is 44
degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius.)
Currently the moon is in the waning Gibbous Moon phase (68% full).
Farmhouse: Hallway and Living Room
All doorways in the front part of the house lead to the front hallway, a
J-shaped area with the short tail starting at the stairs, the front door
hitting the bottom curve, the doorless opening to the living room halfway
up the long side, and the also doorless opening to the kitchen and dining
room at the very top. The hall has a simple wooden floor, and decorated
with a generic print of soft-colored flowers hanging on the wall to the
right of the front door, and a tall table sitting under the print which
serves as a place to toss keys. A closet under the stairs serves as a
place to hang coats or to toss shoes.
The doorless opening to the living room is halfway up the side of the hall's J,
and the word cozy might spring to mind when looking into is, as it seems
to radiate comforting vibrations. A long couch sits against the south
wall beneath a large bay window curtained only by sheers that manages to
obscure the view in but only filters the day's light. A variety of
out-of-date magazines are strewn atop a low coffee table; more neatly
presented are the plethora of books filling the small bookshelves which
line the eastern wall. Three chairs sit about the room, focused inward,
to allow group conversations. Large floor pillows are stacked in one
corner of the room, except one, which lies carelessly in the middle of
the floor, apparently left out the last time it was used.
An opening in the northern end of the hallway allows access to the kitchen and
dining room at the back of the house, while carpeted stairs twist up at
the other end of the hall, leading to the second floor. A door at the
base of the J lets out to the front porch.
Its a slightly lopsided smile that Eve shows, as she slips the toy back into
her pocket. "Yea. Craig gave it to Renee, before she left. One of the few
things I didn't give up on." THe woman shakes her head, suddenly feeling
uncomfortable. "Hey, think they have any pop in the fridge?"
Flash's bootheels are audible on the stairs as he descends, one hand trailing
casually along the bannister.
Flash
He's tall but gawky, a rail-thin, bit-over-six-foot beanpole with dark
blond hair that's almost brown and muddy blue eyes that usually are
forced to peer out from behind overlong bangs. While he's not out-and-out
ugly, his youthful, nerdish features are not particularly handsome,
either, and depending on what he's wearing he looks to be anywhere from
his late teens to his mid-twenties. His tenor voice, which tends to rise
in octave when he's worked up, has an accent that's hard to pin down.
His long-sleeved, shimmery silver shirt is worn untucked over a pair of
soft, faded bell-bottomed blue jeans that sport an American flag patch on
each asscheek. From the cuffs of his jeans protrude the shiny, pointy
metal toes of his cowboy boots. Completing the outfit is an olive green
army jacket that's just a bit too short in the sleeves. Tied around his
forehead is an American Flag bandana.
"They?" Trevor laughs. "I run this place, remember. I know we have pop in the
fridge. What can I get you?"
Eve runs a hand over her spiked hair. "Yea. Guess I forgot. A coke would be
great."
A young woman in her late teens and of average height, Eve's appearance is
unremarkable at best. The young woman's hair is cropped short and would
resemble a military cut, if it wasn't spiked. The brown tips having been
bleached to a near-blond by the sun, while her skin has been deeply
tanned to a golden brown. The Gnawer's eyes are a chocolate brown, flat
and expressionless, showing little or no emotion. Fine white scars
decorate Eve's gaunt features, hardening an already angular face. Its
hard to miss the fact that the woman's hands are horribly scarred and
that she is missing two fingers on her left hand.
Something about the Eve is oddly disturbing. This feeling is only compounded by
the way the young woman holds herself, each movement made slowly and
carefully. The Gnawer's lean figure is clothed in a plain red t-shirt,
which is covered by a worn plaid top. Blue denim jeans with ripped knees
partially hide a formidable pair of black, scuffed, steel-toed boots.
Flash pauses at the bottom of the stairs to give the stranger a curious look,
but his ultimate destination's the kitchen, and that's where he heads,
with little pause.
Farmhouse: Kitchen and Dining Room
Homey is the first word to come to mind when looking at the farmhouse's
kitchen. Dark, wood-paneled wainscoting covers the walls to about waist
height, dark beige wallpaper continuing to the ceiling. Twin
refrigerators occupy the north wall, facing the large six-burner stove on
the south. The kitchen counter runs the length of the eastern wall,
broken only by the double-basin sink. Cabinets run above and below the
counter and a twin-pane window is set in the wall above the sink. A small
pantry is set into an alcove alongside the refrigerators, presumably
holding the deep freezer as well as shelves of dry goods.
Some twelve feet above the floor, a large chandelier hangs from the ceiling,
lighting the dining room and casting long shadows over the bar to the
kitchen. A long table occupies the center of the dining room, three
chairs setting along each side, and one on each end. On the west wall, a
large window looks out on the trees alongside the western pasture. Set
into the north wall is a large cabinet, its glass doors closed on shelves
containing a full compliment of fine china and glassware as well as a few
decorative nicknacks. On the east, a wide bar separates the dining room
from the kitchen.
An opening in the southern wall allows passage to the front entryway of the
house, while a sliding glass door in the kitchen opens to a clearing
behind the house.
In the front rooms, Returning from the kitchen with a coke, Trevor hands it to
Eve. Flash gets a nod.
In the front rooms, "Thanks," Eve says as she accepts the coke, watching as
Flash zips past. "Who was that?"
In the front rooms, Alicia steps in from the porch, closing the front door
behind her.
In the front rooms, "Flash. Also known as Shit-For-Brains. He's a Stargazer who
lives in my Hayloft."
Natalie's just coming in from outside, pausing at the threshold to knock her
shoes clean. She drops a nod to Trevor's back which easily shifts to a
nod for Flash's front. "Hey. I was looking for you."
In the front rooms, Eve blinks once, twice, and finally a third time.
"Stargazer? You've got to be kidding me." She stares at Flash's back.
Flash pauses at the fridge, one hand on the handle, still prior to opening it.
He cocks his head, looking curiously at Natalie. "Me?"
In the front rooms, "No, no, honestly." Trevor grins. "I think his Tribe left
him behind, for reasons that become rapidly obvious when you get to know
him."
In the front rooms, Alicia slips into the house through the front door after
coming back from the Caern. "Hey, Megan come back yet?" She asks with a
soft huff.
"Yeah, you." Nat's left foot thocks once more against the outside of the house,
then she considers the growing crowd in the front room. "Huh. You wanna
come outside? You mind?"
In the front rooms, Eve shakes her head. "I haven't seen her."
In the front rooms, "No. But Alicia-Rhya, she isn't going to come back that
regularly. She dosn't live here anymore."
Flash glances over toward the front rooms, then nods to the Glass Walker and,
with a smirk, bows and gestures toward the door. "Age before beauty."
Without missing a beat Nat turns and heads outside, tossing teasingly over her
shoulder, "Pearls before swine."
In the front rooms, Alicia snorts slightly at Flash's words, then lets out a
breath as she glances to Eve and Trevor. "Well.. still, maybe I should go
looking for her myself then."
In the front rooms, Eve says "Well, if you're supposed to meet up with her, I'n
certain that she'll show."
Barnyard
The lane wends its way back and around the farmhouse to here, where it widens
into a broad, grassy sward contained only by the woods which encircle it
on three sides. Buildings break up the purity of the landscape: an
open-sided structure which serves as a garage and the big barn, empty of
livestock, to the east. A good-sized vegetable and herb garden furrows
the land south of the barn, while a pyramid-like pile of rocks, of
similar consistency to the gravel of the lane, rests a few yards south of
the garage.
North of the buildings, the fields have long been fallow, hastening a
conversion from farmland to natural prairie. A sliding glass door allows
admittance to the farmhouse, the interior obscured by Levolor(tm) blinds
in a wood-grain pattern. The lane leads out around the house to the
southwest. The discerning can just barely pick out the beginnings of a
faint path into the woods towards the southeast.
Natalie hangs back a bit, waiting for the 'Gazer, her face tipped up to the
sun. How... Springy.
Flash sniffs the air as he heads out into the sunlight and squints. "Mmm. Gonna
be shorts and beach weather soon."
Natalie says "Back home this /is/ shorts and beach weather. Not to mention
cruising the lakes." She considers barn, fields, and woods in turn, then
shrugs and gestures broadly. "Your choice. Got a preference?"
Flash grins toothily. "Oh, oh, the fields! Say, you're not gonna propose or
anything, are you, Miz Nat?"
Natalie eyes him sidelong. "...Maybe," says Miss Coy. "But you have to promise
to do the windows and laundry. C'mon." Off toward the fields she heads,
trusting that Flash'll be a good boy and follow.
Farmhouse: Fields
What once was worked cropland has been, over the last several years, allowed to
go to seed, and the result is the natural prarie which has developed,
enclosed on three sides by the forest. It covers several acres of land
with grasses as high as a person's waist, large enough to be out of
earshot of the barnyard but uniform enough that anyone in bipedal form
could be seen approaching through it.
The looming buildings of the farm can be seen to the south.
Flash tails after the Glass Walker with a smirk on his lips and his hands
tucked into the back pockets of his jeans.
Natalie leads until they're well out of earshot of the farmhouse, and nearly
vision as well. "...There. So. Actually, I don't give a flying leap if
you do laundry, I figured that out myself. I wanted to see about taking
you up on some Rites, like you said at the Moot."
Flash flicks hair out of his eyes. "Ooh, _that_." His smirk stretches into a
slanted grin. "Anything in particular you were looking to learn?"
Natalie answers immediately, "Rite of Cleansing. Eve," she jerks her head back
toward the farmhouse, squinting against the sun, "Says she knows it and
would teach it to me, but she didn't exactly sound thrilled, you know?
Monosyllables don't equal eager happiness in my book."
Flash purses his lips. "Don't know that one," he admits, scratching the back of
his neck. "Lessee... I got Talisman Dedication, the Rite of Contrition,
the Rite of Silence... which is a nice one, really... and the Rite of
Comfort, though that's a pretty Child of Gaia thing. Also the Dance of
Lights, Feed the Earth, and the Hangover Cure."
Natalie blows out her breath, clearly disappointed. "Well, crap. Oh well. I
know Dedication and Hangover too. What's Dance of Lights?"
"Helps you work out the answer to a puzzle," says the Stargazer. "Clears the
mind and such."
Natalie huhs and chews thoughtfully on the inside of one cheek for a minute.
"Could be useful. Fair trade, maybe? Rite for a rite? I know Bone
Rhythms, Caffeination, Gathering for the Departed, and the biggie: Rite
of Passage."
Flash chuckles. "Oh, yeah, like /I'm/ gonna be teaching any Gazer cubs anytime
soon." He thinks a moment. "Hmm... Caffeination... I heard a hacker-wolf
talk about that one. Okay, deal." He spits into his palm and holds it out
for shaking. "Dance of Lights for the Rite of Caffeination."
"Deal." She eyes the spit-laden hand for half a second, then with a little
shrug spits into her own and seals the deal. When in Rome, right?
</pre>
</lj-cut>
<pre>
4/9/04
Currently in Saint Claire, it's a sunny day. The temperature is 63 degrees
Fahrenheit (17 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from
variable directions at 7 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.30
and falling, and the relative humidity is 50 percent. The dewpoint is 44
degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius.)
Currently the moon is in the waning Gibbous Moon phase (68% full).
Farmhouse: Hallway and Living Room
All doorways in the front part of the house lead to the front hallway, a
J-shaped area with the short tail starting at the stairs, the front door
hitting the bottom curve, the doorless opening to the living room halfway
up the long side, and the also doorless opening to the kitchen and dining
room at the very top. The hall has a simple wooden floor, and decorated
with a generic print of soft-colored flowers hanging on the wall to the
right of the front door, and a tall table sitting under the print which
serves as a place to toss keys. A closet under the stairs serves as a
place to hang coats or to toss shoes.
The doorless opening to the living room is halfway up the side of the hall's J,
and the word cozy might spring to mind when looking into is, as it seems
to radiate comforting vibrations. A long couch sits against the south
wall beneath a large bay window curtained only by sheers that manages to
obscure the view in but only filters the day's light. A variety of
out-of-date magazines are strewn atop a low coffee table; more neatly
presented are the plethora of books filling the small bookshelves which
line the eastern wall. Three chairs sit about the room, focused inward,
to allow group conversations. Large floor pillows are stacked in one
corner of the room, except one, which lies carelessly in the middle of
the floor, apparently left out the last time it was used.
An opening in the northern end of the hallway allows access to the kitchen and
dining room at the back of the house, while carpeted stairs twist up at
the other end of the hall, leading to the second floor. A door at the
base of the J lets out to the front porch.
Its a slightly lopsided smile that Eve shows, as she slips the toy back into
her pocket. "Yea. Craig gave it to Renee, before she left. One of the few
things I didn't give up on." THe woman shakes her head, suddenly feeling
uncomfortable. "Hey, think they have any pop in the fridge?"
Flash's bootheels are audible on the stairs as he descends, one hand trailing
casually along the bannister.
Flash
He's tall but gawky, a rail-thin, bit-over-six-foot beanpole with dark
blond hair that's almost brown and muddy blue eyes that usually are
forced to peer out from behind overlong bangs. While he's not out-and-out
ugly, his youthful, nerdish features are not particularly handsome,
either, and depending on what he's wearing he looks to be anywhere from
his late teens to his mid-twenties. His tenor voice, which tends to rise
in octave when he's worked up, has an accent that's hard to pin down.
His long-sleeved, shimmery silver shirt is worn untucked over a pair of
soft, faded bell-bottomed blue jeans that sport an American flag patch on
each asscheek. From the cuffs of his jeans protrude the shiny, pointy
metal toes of his cowboy boots. Completing the outfit is an olive green
army jacket that's just a bit too short in the sleeves. Tied around his
forehead is an American Flag bandana.
"They?" Trevor laughs. "I run this place, remember. I know we have pop in the
fridge. What can I get you?"
Eve runs a hand over her spiked hair. "Yea. Guess I forgot. A coke would be
great."
A young woman in her late teens and of average height, Eve's appearance is
unremarkable at best. The young woman's hair is cropped short and would
resemble a military cut, if it wasn't spiked. The brown tips having been
bleached to a near-blond by the sun, while her skin has been deeply
tanned to a golden brown. The Gnawer's eyes are a chocolate brown, flat
and expressionless, showing little or no emotion. Fine white scars
decorate Eve's gaunt features, hardening an already angular face. Its
hard to miss the fact that the woman's hands are horribly scarred and
that she is missing two fingers on her left hand.
Something about the Eve is oddly disturbing. This feeling is only compounded by
the way the young woman holds herself, each movement made slowly and
carefully. The Gnawer's lean figure is clothed in a plain red t-shirt,
which is covered by a worn plaid top. Blue denim jeans with ripped knees
partially hide a formidable pair of black, scuffed, steel-toed boots.
Flash pauses at the bottom of the stairs to give the stranger a curious look,
but his ultimate destination's the kitchen, and that's where he heads,
with little pause.
Farmhouse: Kitchen and Dining Room
Homey is the first word to come to mind when looking at the farmhouse's
kitchen. Dark, wood-paneled wainscoting covers the walls to about waist
height, dark beige wallpaper continuing to the ceiling. Twin
refrigerators occupy the north wall, facing the large six-burner stove on
the south. The kitchen counter runs the length of the eastern wall,
broken only by the double-basin sink. Cabinets run above and below the
counter and a twin-pane window is set in the wall above the sink. A small
pantry is set into an alcove alongside the refrigerators, presumably
holding the deep freezer as well as shelves of dry goods.
Some twelve feet above the floor, a large chandelier hangs from the ceiling,
lighting the dining room and casting long shadows over the bar to the
kitchen. A long table occupies the center of the dining room, three
chairs setting along each side, and one on each end. On the west wall, a
large window looks out on the trees alongside the western pasture. Set
into the north wall is a large cabinet, its glass doors closed on shelves
containing a full compliment of fine china and glassware as well as a few
decorative nicknacks. On the east, a wide bar separates the dining room
from the kitchen.
An opening in the southern wall allows passage to the front entryway of the
house, while a sliding glass door in the kitchen opens to a clearing
behind the house.
In the front rooms, Returning from the kitchen with a coke, Trevor hands it to
Eve. Flash gets a nod.
In the front rooms, "Thanks," Eve says as she accepts the coke, watching as
Flash zips past. "Who was that?"
In the front rooms, Alicia steps in from the porch, closing the front door
behind her.
In the front rooms, "Flash. Also known as Shit-For-Brains. He's a Stargazer who
lives in my Hayloft."
Natalie's just coming in from outside, pausing at the threshold to knock her
shoes clean. She drops a nod to Trevor's back which easily shifts to a
nod for Flash's front. "Hey. I was looking for you."
In the front rooms, Eve blinks once, twice, and finally a third time.
"Stargazer? You've got to be kidding me." She stares at Flash's back.
Flash pauses at the fridge, one hand on the handle, still prior to opening it.
He cocks his head, looking curiously at Natalie. "Me?"
In the front rooms, "No, no, honestly." Trevor grins. "I think his Tribe left
him behind, for reasons that become rapidly obvious when you get to know
him."
In the front rooms, Alicia slips into the house through the front door after
coming back from the Caern. "Hey, Megan come back yet?" She asks with a
soft huff.
"Yeah, you." Nat's left foot thocks once more against the outside of the house,
then she considers the growing crowd in the front room. "Huh. You wanna
come outside? You mind?"
In the front rooms, Eve shakes her head. "I haven't seen her."
In the front rooms, "No. But Alicia-Rhya, she isn't going to come back that
regularly. She dosn't live here anymore."
Flash glances over toward the front rooms, then nods to the Glass Walker and,
with a smirk, bows and gestures toward the door. "Age before beauty."
Without missing a beat Nat turns and heads outside, tossing teasingly over her
shoulder, "Pearls before swine."
In the front rooms, Alicia snorts slightly at Flash's words, then lets out a
breath as she glances to Eve and Trevor. "Well.. still, maybe I should go
looking for her myself then."
In the front rooms, Eve says "Well, if you're supposed to meet up with her, I'n
certain that she'll show."
Barnyard
The lane wends its way back and around the farmhouse to here, where it widens
into a broad, grassy sward contained only by the woods which encircle it
on three sides. Buildings break up the purity of the landscape: an
open-sided structure which serves as a garage and the big barn, empty of
livestock, to the east. A good-sized vegetable and herb garden furrows
the land south of the barn, while a pyramid-like pile of rocks, of
similar consistency to the gravel of the lane, rests a few yards south of
the garage.
North of the buildings, the fields have long been fallow, hastening a
conversion from farmland to natural prairie. A sliding glass door allows
admittance to the farmhouse, the interior obscured by Levolor(tm) blinds
in a wood-grain pattern. The lane leads out around the house to the
southwest. The discerning can just barely pick out the beginnings of a
faint path into the woods towards the southeast.
Natalie hangs back a bit, waiting for the 'Gazer, her face tipped up to the
sun. How... Springy.
Flash sniffs the air as he heads out into the sunlight and squints. "Mmm. Gonna
be shorts and beach weather soon."
Natalie says "Back home this /is/ shorts and beach weather. Not to mention
cruising the lakes." She considers barn, fields, and woods in turn, then
shrugs and gestures broadly. "Your choice. Got a preference?"
Flash grins toothily. "Oh, oh, the fields! Say, you're not gonna propose or
anything, are you, Miz Nat?"
Natalie eyes him sidelong. "...Maybe," says Miss Coy. "But you have to promise
to do the windows and laundry. C'mon." Off toward the fields she heads,
trusting that Flash'll be a good boy and follow.
Farmhouse: Fields
What once was worked cropland has been, over the last several years, allowed to
go to seed, and the result is the natural prarie which has developed,
enclosed on three sides by the forest. It covers several acres of land
with grasses as high as a person's waist, large enough to be out of
earshot of the barnyard but uniform enough that anyone in bipedal form
could be seen approaching through it.
The looming buildings of the farm can be seen to the south.
Flash tails after the Glass Walker with a smirk on his lips and his hands
tucked into the back pockets of his jeans.
Natalie leads until they're well out of earshot of the farmhouse, and nearly
vision as well. "...There. So. Actually, I don't give a flying leap if
you do laundry, I figured that out myself. I wanted to see about taking
you up on some Rites, like you said at the Moot."
Flash flicks hair out of his eyes. "Ooh, _that_." His smirk stretches into a
slanted grin. "Anything in particular you were looking to learn?"
Natalie answers immediately, "Rite of Cleansing. Eve," she jerks her head back
toward the farmhouse, squinting against the sun, "Says she knows it and
would teach it to me, but she didn't exactly sound thrilled, you know?
Monosyllables don't equal eager happiness in my book."
Flash purses his lips. "Don't know that one," he admits, scratching the back of
his neck. "Lessee... I got Talisman Dedication, the Rite of Contrition,
the Rite of Silence... which is a nice one, really... and the Rite of
Comfort, though that's a pretty Child of Gaia thing. Also the Dance of
Lights, Feed the Earth, and the Hangover Cure."
Natalie blows out her breath, clearly disappointed. "Well, crap. Oh well. I
know Dedication and Hangover too. What's Dance of Lights?"
"Helps you work out the answer to a puzzle," says the Stargazer. "Clears the
mind and such."
Natalie huhs and chews thoughtfully on the inside of one cheek for a minute.
"Could be useful. Fair trade, maybe? Rite for a rite? I know Bone
Rhythms, Caffeination, Gathering for the Departed, and the biggie: Rite
of Passage."
Flash chuckles. "Oh, yeah, like /I'm/ gonna be teaching any Gazer cubs anytime
soon." He thinks a moment. "Hmm... Caffeination... I heard a hacker-wolf
talk about that one. Okay, deal." He spits into his palm and holds it out
for shaking. "Dance of Lights for the Rite of Caffeination."
"Deal." She eyes the spit-laden hand for half a second, then with a little
shrug spits into her own and seals the deal. When in Rome, right?
</pre>
</lj-cut>
