Tapestries: Pablo - Sunday, August 20, 2006, 7:32 PM

Later that evening, some time after the sun has set, there is a knock at your door. If you've gone through your pack lately, you might notice that there's a couple of your Harry Potter books missing.

Tony is stooped over the small desk in the room, scribbling away madly at a sheet of paper. He has it filled with notes and symbols and diagrams, mostly things he's learned and needs to know. A big tri-faced symbol with Wyrm, Wyld, and Weaver is drawn, with lines spoking out from each with little bullet points. Rough drawings of human and werewolves and wolves, ideas about mass and polit--  He jolts sharply at the knock, jumping to his feet. He has noticed one of his books has gone missing, but he is fairly certain that Bits took the first chapters. "Come in," he calls.

The door opens, and Gabby walks in, "Just wanted to make sure you were decent," she chuckles, then rubs her hands together. "Are you ready to take a visit to the Umbra?"

Squinting out his window, he realizes the sun has gone down for a while now. Huh. He's been brainstorming for hours. "Sure," he says, rubbing his eyes and stretching. "Should I take anything?"

This makes Gabby laugh. "Uh, no," she explains, "In fact, you /can't/ take anything with you, except whatever you may have that is dedicated. Otherwise it won't pass the Gauntlet. The Gauntlet, before you ask, is the barrier that seperates the physical from spiritual world. The more that an area is dominated by the Weaver, the harder it is to cross the Gauntlet. So, it is easiest in a caern, a little harder in the deep woods, harder yet in a rural area, and even harder in the city. I would imagine that it's hardest of all in, say, a laboratory or someplace dedicated to science or technology, though, personally, I try to avoid those places. Even at night, they can be dangerous."

Tony looks amused himself. "Yes, the chem lab at the high school is downright horrifying at night," he says. "Come on. Not all technology is bad," he says with a pleading tone. "Like you said, they should be in balance, not destroyed completely."

Gabby smiles wryly, "I'm not preaching to you here, Tony, I'm just telling you the reality of the situation. The reason there is a Gauntlet in the first place is because the Weaver built it to keep the worlds of spirit and physical apart. Therefore, in places the Weaver is stronger, the Gauntlet is stronger. Should there /be/ a Gauntlet? Should these two be seperate? It didn't used to be that way, but that was a very, very long time ago. So, who am I to argue what's right and what isn't. I'm more interested in fighting the Wyrm, anyway. The Wyrm corrupts all, regardless of whether they are of the Wyld, or the Weaver." She shakes her head, and brushes some hair from her face. "Enough philosophy. Let's go." She reaches down and takes your hand. "Reaching ... some call it 'Stepping Sideways' ... is something that you can do inherently, all Garou can, and you'll pick it up easy enough. You can do it anywhere, anytime, but it's easier if you have a mirror, or some other reflective surface. If you don't, and you screw up crossing (which you certainly can), you can attract the attention of Weaver spirits, who will make it harder to cross there. If you screw up /really/ bad, then you might get stuck. That, um, sucks. We can also cross as a group, like you and I are going to do, and you usually whoever is best with spiritual stuff [OOC: Has the highest Gnosis] lead the way, which will make it less likely for you to screw up."


Tony looks like he'd prefer to discuss more philosophy, but he relents and nods at you in agreement. "Let's go." He takes your hand in his, then asks suddenly, "If it's inherently something you can do, is it something you can do accidentally? While dreaming or something? Cause, that would suck, too, I imagine." It takes him a few seconds to realize that you aren't leading him anywhere. Just holding his hand. It suddenly feels awkwardly personal, his fingers twined with yours in his room, with no apparent inclination to leave. "So...?"

She gives this a moment's thought, then responds: "Yes. But I've only heard of it happening in stories, and usually only to lupus, as they have a greater inherent connection. Another way some access it is by using psychoactive drugs. Human shamans sometimes can cross this way, or at least view the Umbra. Normal humans can't, of course." She smiles over at you, "Personally, I don't recommend that route. Just clouds your mind, and we don't need it." Without further discussion, then, she looks at the mirror. Her eyes become unfocused and then ... it's a bit like suddenly being tossed into cold water. You freeze, shiver, your feel as if you left your guts behind for a moment, then *wham* you're through that surface tension, up again, on dry land. Or what passes for it. You're still standing in the house, though none of your personal effects are visible. Everything seems ... shadowy, almost as if you're looking at a black and white movie of your life. Outside the window, you can see the moon shining brightly. It's about 3/4 full and its light covers the shadowy forestscape below.

Tony smirks. "So the hippies did have something on the ball, after all," he muses. "They really were travelling, or seeing things different." He waits, though, as you turn to look into the mirror, his brow furrowing. What are you doing? Turning his eyes to look at the mirror as well, he hardly gets a glimpse of himself before the world suddenly turns to icy dry water. His hand clamps down on yours in fear. This is not good, he thinks in a panic, almost sure that something must have gone wrong. It's like a rollercoaster ride through snow. And then, just as suddenly, he's back in his room. Sort of. Colour has been drained away, objects are missing, he's naked once again. "What... What the hell?" he huffs, still squeezing your hand.

Gabby squeezes your hand back, in a comforting manner, and she speaks: "This is the Umbra, Tony. Or, more specifically, the Penumbra. It is the spirit reflection of the physical world. Or maybe the physical world is a reflection of here. Regardless, things that happen here are always reflected in the physical world, which is why a lot of the fighting we do is here." She brushes her hair out of her eyes again. "Only things that are old, or have a lot of emotions tied to them in the physical world are present here. So, some ordinary things simply aren't here at all. But this house, it exists here because it's a century old, and many Garou have lived here and cared for it." She tugs you over towards the wall. "Look here, I want to show you something." She points down to where there is an electrical outlet in your 'real' bedroom. There, you can see little webs in the wood of the room, and teeny tiny little glowing spiders running frantically up and down a tube. "This is the Weaver. Admittedly not her scariest incarnation, but, an example."

Tony slowly lets your hand go, unless you stop the action. He walks to the window, staring outside with wide eyes, lips pressed tightly together. Another world? Or... a shadow of the world? Or is the world a shadow of here? His hands roam the windowsil, the wooden grain feeling solid and real enough to him. At your beckoning, he kneels down to examine the spiders. "So... these spiders create things? Or they make spirit copies?" He reaches out to lightly touch the webbing.

Gabby lets you go, and is about to open her mouth to stop you when you touch the webbing, you feel a sharp *zzzzot* of pain and are shoved back a few feet by the jolt of electricity. She smile ruefully and looks down at you. "Sorry. I should have mentioned that electricity spirits can be ... annoying ... when provoked. Same way you wouldn't stick your finger into an outlet." The little spiders don't seem to be angry or anything, they just keep moving up and down. Your cousin looks down to you, "You okay?" It's more a reassurance to you that she's paying attention, as she's sure you are. "To answer your question ... you know, I'm not /terribly/ strong on matters of the Weaver, but, as I understand it, when something is created in the physical world, and enough emotion is put into it, then it is reflected in the spirit world. Those particular spirits aren't building anything, they are just the reflection of the electricity. But you'll find them everywhere, all over the world, along with countless other Weaver spirits that criss cross the landscape, a reflection of the ... impact ... technology has had on the world. If I had to guess, one of the reasons that electricity has such a impressive representation here, is that it is such a mystery to people, that they kind of feel like it's magical. And it's that mass of feeling that creates this sort of reflection. Does that make sense?" [OOC: I'm delving a little bit into the Mage mythos here, but it's not terribly clear in the books I own, or at least the ones I've read recently.]

Tony gives a yelp of pain as he stumbles back from the outlet, shakeshaking his hand and flexing his fingers. "Well, things aren't too different," he mutters sardonicly as he gets back to his feet. Digesting your explanation, he reports back, "Sure, it makes sense. Weaver spirits are powered by emotions and thoughts back in the physical world. That's what it sounds like, anyway. Or maybe the Weaver IS emotional thoughts? Hmm. I'll have to test this out more. So, what else should we see here? Can we fly or something?" he asks with a grin.

Gabby laughs, "Oh, I so wish." She thinks for a moment, and adds something to her previous thought. "The whole spirit vs. physical thing is sort of a chicken and egg thing. Things can exist in the physical world without a reflection here, and things can in fact be detroyed or changed in the physical world without affecting their appearance in the Umbra. There are things you'll see here that are long gone in the physical world. Especially around here, since our caern is a caern of memory. Travel around the Umbral Bawn and you'll see spirits of cave bears, of dire wolves, of giant sloths and bison, and of course, Mammoth himself, our caern's totem spirit." She smiles, then continues: "/Howver/, if you destroy something in the Umbra, and you're, literally, killing its spirit. And you will affect it profoundly in the physical world. That is one of the ways we fight the Wyrm, by destroying the Wyrm's spirits here, we help its victims in the physical world. Anyway, come downstairs and out with me, and then let's shift to lupus. I want to show you something. Be careful, though, we're going off the Bawn, so it may be a little dangerous."

Tony strokes his chin in thought. It seems he's getting used to being naked around people. Or at least around you. "Interesting. Definitely requires experimenting," he decides with a firm nod. As he follows you downstairs, something you said before makes him pause. "Whoa. What, Mammoth himself, you said? Like... like a Wooly Mammoth, mammoth?"

Gabby grins, well, wolfishly. "Yes. Though someone told me once that he actually looks more like a mastodon, Mammoth is the name he answers to." With that, she heads out the door, slips into lupus form (changing forms in the Umbra are instantaneous), and starts off to the east. She moves at that ground-eating trot and within a few minutes, you feel that warmth of the caern being nearby disappear. Now, you are in a cold, shadow world, lit only by a partial moon. Path-Knower's ears are alert, her body posture wary, as you pass that barrier.

Tony boggles at the idea. Well, it sort of makes sense. They used to inhabit this area however many millenia ago. Shaking his head, he follows you outside and drops down into lupus. Getting his bearings quickly enough, he begins to run behind you, nose tilted into the wind to sniff around. He slows a little as the bawn fades behind him, a small whimper escaping his throat as he comes up next to you. This is a lot less awesome.

Path-Knower gives you a nudge of encouragement. It is fairly safe, under Luna's light, this close to the bawn. Rarely do spirits of the Wyrm come. She takes off again, then, heading east once more. She stops atop a small ridge, next to where two paths converge. She nudges your attention to the valley below. There, reflected in the moonlight, you see a few buildings, but mostly, lots and lots of spiderwebs, covering everything, every path, every building.

The younger wolf trots up to the top of the ridge with you, looking around with his ears raised high and a nervous shiver continuing to run through him. He feels like a kid who has spooked himself into believing a monster is in the closet. Get a grip. He shakes himself from head to tail, chuffs, and follows your gaze. Holy crap. Does everything here appear to be made of webbing?

Path-Knower slides back into homid form, to make communication easier. "That, Tony, is the town of Eagle. It's got, say, 2500 people in it, and the Weaver entangles them all. There, at least, you can see through the Weaver's webs, you can negotiate them, perhaps. But in places that are larger ... Milwaukee ... or Chicago ... it can be absolutely overwheming, and you can be trapped. So, it's not really that the Weaver ... or technology or science ... is inherently bad. It's just that there's just so /much/ of it. It's not in balance anymore, and it's easy for the Wyrm to corrupt." She sighs, a bit sadly. "Not that I have some grand plan, some grand solution, except to do what we can, fight the Wyrm where it dwells and breeds, and fight the Weaver's excesses when needed."

"So, why not start tearing down the webbing? If there's so much Weaver stuff, and the Wyrm is destruction, why not let them destroy it until it's balanced out again?" he asks, once he is on two legs again. "And where is the Wyld, then, if that stuff is Weaver?"

"The Wyrm is not destruction, per se. It's corruption, it's decay, it's entropy. I know, it's a little hard to make that distinction. But destruction, death, is not inherently bad. In fact, one could say that's the natural order of things, the Wyld is about chaos, and disorder, and death, in some ways, is part of that. But, so is life, excitement, beauty, creativity, and such things," Gabby tries to explain. "And, yes, we could start tearing down the webbing, but, to be perfectly frank, we would lose that war. There just aren't enough of us. The Weaver has her own defenses, which are not unsubstantial." She sticks her hands in her pockets, looking down for a moment. "Many say that we're losing the war we're already fighting, against the Wyrm. That the end times are near. I don't know, I let the storytellers argue about such things. But, personally, I can't think that all I'm going to do is go down fighting. Some do. Some find glory in that. There /is/ glory in that, but..." she rubs her neck. "By Gaia, I'm probably screwing you up. I should be giving some sort of pep talk or something."

Tony looks down at the small town for a while, silent as he thinks to himself. "Perhaps definitions and semantics fail to describe it," he says eventually. "I see the Weaver, and I see the problem with it. It's obvious to anyone's eyes, I'd think, that there's too much even on this small town. If what you say about the link between Weaver and technology is true, then I get that part as well. But I'm having problems understanding the difference between Wyrm and Wyld. Can you show me the Wyrm?"

Gabby looks horrified at your inability to distinguish between Wyld and Wyrm. Great, she thinks, I'm leading this boy down the path to the Black Spiral. But she's silent for a long moment, before she nods. "Yes. I will. But I want you to stay back, okay, and just watch. I don't want to risk you getting hurt. Try to remain unseen. I'll see what I can find. You see, briefly, a hint of fear on her face, before it disappears as she melts down into lupus form once more, and begins to make her way down towards the town.

Tony nods in concent quickly. "Sure. Whatever you want me to do," he agrees, stepping back. He waits for you to disappear down the path, then looks around himself for a hiding spot. Immediately he disappears into the trees with what would probably be an impressive skill if you were there to see it.

Path-Knower casts her head back and forth as she examines houses nearby looking for the touch of the Wyrm inside. She's gone a bit far down the road, when she looks back to you, tilting her head in a summoning manner.

A moment later, the dark furred wolf emerges from a different part of the woods than you left him. He trots down to where you stand, and quickly finds cover once more. Not as effectively as he does when human, given how unfamiliar he is with this body, but good enough to stay hidden.

Path-Knower nods in approval. She lifts her nose and indicates an open space nearby. It may very well be a house in the Realm, but apparently it does not exist here in the Umbra. She moves slowly, measuredly, patiently, towards it. And that's when you see the ... thing ... inside the open space. It appears to be tall thin androgynous humans with pale white flesh, covered with bruises, wounds and scars the criss-crossing over its naked body. Over its head it wears an executioner's leather hood, and from the mouth of which comes sharp needle-like teeth and a great deal of drool. Its sex is indeterminate as between their legs is nothing but a raw bleeding wound. In one hand, it carries what looks like a scalpel, and in the other a wicked, barbed sickle. It is pacing back and forth through the area, seemingly not paying attention, or not noticing, your approaching cousin. She emerges, suddenly, then, with a howl and a leap, wearing the war form, her arms held out, wicked claws slashing through the stuff of
the stuff of the spirit. The spirit only responds with an even more wicked-looking smile and it points a finger at the massive werewolf and suddenly Path-Knower is thrown to the ground, writhing and howling in obvious pain.

Tony creeps as quietly as he can on his four paws, as close as he dares get to the edge of the clearing. He glances at you, then moves to your side once more so he can see what you do. And when he does see... His throat constricts too much for even a whimper to escape. The figure before him is a nightmare, a horror, a blasphemy of existence. Never has he felt such immediate and overpowering revulsion. His tail is hiked right up between his legs, ears laid low. Turning to look for his cousin, he seems shocked that she is gone. And even moreso when he sees where she's going. Is she crazy! A strangled wolven cry of alarm comes from him as he takes a step forward a moment after his cousin attacks. Without thinking, he's on two feet again, into his crinos form, and runs towards the thing. Not intent on a suicide attack, he only gets as close as he figures the length of that sickle is, snarling thunderously. ~STOP IT!~

Slowly, ever so slowly, the thing turns to face the new threat, its eyes alight with a delicious joy of evil. It raises a hand, points a finger at you, and you are subsumed with pain... a greater pain that you've ever felt before, it knocks you down, sends you sprawling, and feels like a million needles all poking all over your body at the same time. But, this distracts the creature just long enough, and in a blur of motion that you can barely see through the haze of pain, Path-Knower claws and bites and tears at the flesh of the monster, blood, or what looks like it, spewing everywhere. She rips off an arm, tears a hole through its chest, and yet the thing just seems to /enjoy/ it more. But after a split second of furious blows, the monster simply ... disappears. Path-Knower quickly turns to you, panting in exertion, as she says, ~Dammit, Tony, I told you to stay clear.~ You can see a gash in her shoulder. It oozes blood.

Tony's huge body falls back, pain racking every nerve he owns. He writhes, claws scraping at the air as he tries to fend off the invisible source of torment. Only able to see a slight flicker before the thing is assaulted from behind, he twists onto his side and gasps as the pain subsides. Still incapacitated, however, he only stares blurrily at the scene as his cousin rips the thing to shreds. He returns to human form as he falls to his back, gasping heavily. "That thing was... going to kill you, though. Fucking... Cruciatus Curse," he huffs, rubbing his chest. "Are you okay?" He asks, finally pulling himself together enough to roll to his feet, wobbling.

Path-Knower gives you a little tilt of the head at your words, not understanding all of them. ~I will be... fine. We best get back to the caern. It may return.~ With that, she slips down into lupus form, pauses a few moment, and you watch as the wound knits itself back up within a few seconds, and then she's off running, without any sort of limp.

Tony eyes the retreating form of his cousin only for a second, before he's down on all fours and running after her. How did that wound close over so fast? He'll ask later. For now, he just chaces your tail back to the caern, glancing around himself warily the whole way.

It's a quiet, but quick run back to the bawn. A sense of relief washes over you as you pass the boundary of the caern and she leads you back to the Cub house, and back upstairs to your room. She places her paw against yours and draws you both back across that Gauntlet -- it's not as disconcerting this time, but still a bit of a shock -- and back to the material world. Gabby slips back to her birth form and sits down in a chair. "You have to be careful," she tells you, "where you cross the Gauntlet. Because if you do it in front of humans, it's a Veil breach." She slumps back a bit.

Tony is still in a bit of shock over the creature back there. He slumps onto his bed as he wriggles his pants on, staring at the floor. "Careful. Right," he says, sounding distant. "What was that thing?"

Gabby thinks for a moment, then says, "Called a Mutilator. They are banes which revel in pain. It was encouraging some pain that was going on there, in that house. It's not the most powerful bane out there, but nasty nonetheless." She closes her eyes for a moment. "This is probably a good time to point out two things. Remember 'The alpha may not be challenged in time of war?' That means when an elder gives you an order, in combat, you /do/ it. Period. End of story. Yes, it was hurting me. Yes, I may have gotten killed, in theory. But that's better than /both/ of us dying, understand?" She shakes her head, and adds, "Also, good to remember, don't go hunting banes alone. Bad idea. There's a reason why we run in packs."

Tony nods slowly, seemingly too upset to really argue over the fine points right now. "I understand," he murmurs, still staring downwards. There's a shiver in him, you can see it, his hands shaking as they wring together between his knees. "It was horrible," he says, his voice tight. "Just evil, and... nothing else."

Gabby seems a little recovered, and she slides out of the chair to hug you. "Yeah, yeah it is. Philosophy and history and cosmology aside, it really comes down to that. There's evil things out there, and it's our job to fight them. And some of it is very frightening. You'll see things you never dreamed of. But, then, you're bigger, and stronger, and have sharper claws than you ever dreamed of, too. We're Gaia's chosen, remember."

The boy, for he really does feel like a small boy right now, leans into the hug welcomingly, his face going to your shoulder. There's strong emotions running through him right now, his breathing deep and tears in his eyes. "It was gonna kill you."

Your cousin laughs it off. "It was gonna /try/. I may be a girl, but I can give a heck of a fight. Next, time, though, yeah, more scouting beforehand, and bring the pack with. Athena and Stands will never let me live it down, letting it get away." She shrugs, "But, mission accomplished, right? You see the truth, and that will make you a stronger warrior, and that's good. For the tribe, for the sept, and for Gaia." She smiles.

Tony wipes his eyes off, sniffing. "IT got away? I thought you killed it. You tore into it like a shredder." He smiles back weakly, though with pride poking through as well. "You're definitely the kind of cousin a kid wants when the bullies are around."

Gabby shakes her head, "No, sadly, it just reformed somewhere else. Probably because it thought there were more of us." She shrugs, "Some spirits can do that, disappear and reappear elsewhere. Very frustrating. But if you kill them, there's... residue. Spiritual residue left. You can use it to recharge your own Gnosis, your connection to the spirit world, but that's generally not recommended with Banes, because of their taint. Sometimes Gaian spirits will sacrifice themselves to help us."