Doin' it Rite

[Hector]

"Interesting... Yeah..."

Hector begins his response to Emily's explanation of Talen's. Just as he starts he has to accept his part of Bleeds Well's rite. He snatches back his ragged clothing and bares a forearm. The Alpha doesn't even hiss as the beta does what he must to empower the rite; instead, he simply grins like a manic lunatic. And...

Giggles?

"Ah! Ha ha!"

Hector laughs. Is that from the revelations of the rite or because Hector is... Hector?

"Riiight. Dedication!"

Hector spends a while watching his forearm heal. At the last minute his eyes snap across to Emily and his face assumes total focus.

[Bleeds Well]

His piece finished Bleeds Well replaces the knife in the box.

Dedication...

"Very useful rite to perform seasonal. It's best to update clothing as you can.

And weapons." Emily's explanation makes him think, "I'm not being the Pack's mule." He shuts that down before anyone else can think of it. He offers Hector a smile, the Alpha would never ask it of him, but you never know with the pup's of the pack.

[Bird]

Bird nurses his beer, watches Emily go through her explanation of the Dedication Rite. He knows this one, but still gives her his full attention. It's always interesting, seeing how someone else does a thing.

When she asks if it all makes sense, Bird gives her a nod of assent and respect. Ready for the next demonstration.

When Hector giggles, his beer pauses on its way to his lips. He quickly recovers and takes his sip. Bird learned a long time ago that when it comes to The People, you don't pass judgement. Just let them be. Especially when the wolf in question is your Alpha.

He cuts his eyes at Bleeds Well when the Beta makes his declaration. Like he would let the Rahu touch his shit. Not that he has any shit. But still.

Expectant eyes back to Emily. What else does she have for them? The Bird's ready to learn.

[Emily Makerith]

The Ithauer gives Bleeds well a confused look. "Season? Um, nope. Sorry. Dedication only lasts a day. Forgot to mention that one. Easiest thing to do is fold it into your morning routine - 't's what I do. Unless I need something particular."

Emily polishes off her fries quickly before speaking again.

"Mmmkay. If we're sticking with simple Rites... probably best to cover Talens now." She roots through the box. "Like.... The irony with Talens is summoning and binding spirits are much harder to pull off, but it's totally possible to try chatting up a tiny gaffling into doing what you want for some tasty spirit mojo." She pulls out a small pouchlike bag, and lobs it gently towards Bird. "Decay Dust," she says by way of explanation. "Dissolves corpses into nothing. Well. It was. That'll be inert by now. Talens work on the same premise of Fetishes, but instead of a permanent binding to an object, it's a one-use thing, which is often a lot easier to convince a spirit to do. I made that one months ago, and if you look in the Hisil the Decay spirit I bargained with will be loooong gone." She pulls out one of the leather bound books and begins flicking through the pages.

"There's dozens of talens, and neither I or old Windrider knew them all. You might have heard of common ones, like Decay dust or Rage stones. Making them is a lot more... formally ritualistic than the ones we've seen so far. First, you get the object you want to make the binding with. Always prepare this in advance. The closer it is to matching the type of talen or the spirit powering it, symbolically in some way, the more likely to work it is." Emily pulls several bits out of the box and kneels on the floor, marking out a circle in chalk and dropping a candle on at quarters, lighting them. She takes a sow breath. "You can try and do it without all the ceremony, but it sets the scene a little for Spirits. They're creatures of habit, so they can recognise certain symbols like circles and Rituals starting to happen. I like to have everything set up before you grab your spirit. The there's 2 ways - you can summon one across, or hop over to the hisil and negotiate with a spirit for it's help. Both work, but the former is a bit of an ass if you can't pull off a summoning ritual and the latter means leaving a spirit alone and hoping it has an attention span longer than a goldfish. It's why being set up is better."

She looks around, making sure people are still following. "I'm sure you've all bartered with spirits for gifts or whatever, right? Exactly the same principle, but instead of imparting knowledge to you, you are the spirit to do it. One trick, no mess, no powers they're letting out in the world that might bite them in the ass later. Once they've agreed, you pay your Chiminage as a part of the ritual - burning stuff to release the spirit energy, or whatever... or press the gift of essence into the Talen so the spirit can jump in. Hey presto! You got a talen." The Crescent scratches the back of her neck. "It's hard to tell a talen from a simple Fetish at first glance. But the rituals in making them are far more difficult. Remember, a Fetish is permanent, and for a spirit to agree it needs to be sure it's going to get to act in it's nature. Come to think of it, I should be making talens a lot more than I do. Hmmm."

Emily lapses into thought, plotting a couple more rituals.

[Hector]

Hector sinks into a crouch as Emily begins her discussion. He grunts, expression his appreciation for the Spirit Speakers art.

"Thats... really interesting. Talens are something we definitely need. The Decay Dust... I remember that... So they have a 'use by' date? Is there a way of storing them ... you know... safely? Stock piling them?"

[Bleeds Well]

The Rahu clears his throat at the Ritesmaster's chastisement, "Perhaps you dedicate your clothing each day because you spend so much time amongst the herd. I've had to survive with the same clothing for weeks on end, so as not to disturb anyone with such a menial task I should really learn myself. Now that I know how, I might even update my wardrobe." Bleeds Well offers a softening of his expression, an attempt at a polite smile that looks more like a pained grimace.

"Sister, you and I both should be bending our skills more often for the betterment of the Pack. Between the two of us the Clarion's Call could have a veritable armory," he raises his beer in cheers toward Emily. The youthful spirit she possessed made it easy to forget the years she had on him, and the experience. The little, blue-haired punk had been the Lone Wolf of Sacramento, and survived.

As Alpha asks his question Bleeds Well darts his eyes to the ever observant bird, studying the stoic man's face. Looks like I no longer have a monopoly on brooding in Clarion's Call. Alpha's fits of laughter seem to slide over the Meninna and a look of something like satisfaction flashes in BW's eyes. It's followed by respect and quiet contemplation. How many wars with the Pure have Hector and Emily seen here? How many spirits battled? How much change? How many of the People have come and gone and still Clarion's Call persisted, carried on the shoulders of a raving mad-man and a blue-haired punk? He raises his beer to drink again, pausing to give the pair a small salute, a gesture they are likely miss in their discussion, but doubtlessly observed the observant.

[Bird]

Bird doesn't notice Bleeds Well's regards, or at least doesn't seem to. He's too busy listening to Emily describe her take on the dedication rite. Bird's never had any trouble with his dedicated clothing. Certainly nothing that requires daily maintenance. It's one and done until he needs to release the item in question.

"These been dedicated a long time," he gestures to his black t-shirt and black jeans, his work boots. "Never had to perform the rite again." He shrugs, sips his beer. Maybe it's all in the way you work it. But Fa-ninna's got no time for daily rituals.

Emily tosses the Decay Dust and Bird grabs it out of the air. Brings the pouch closer to his face, not too close, and sniffs at it. "What kind of spirit you work with for this here?" Useful stuff.

Hector asks the question that Bird is thinking. He nods and adds: "Or can you work that into the deal, ask the spirit to stick around longer?" Effectively extending the use-by date.

[Emily Makerith]

The Crescent thinks. "Well... some can. That is, like, you can make Talens that last until they get used, but some spirits get a bit bitchy about that if you don't know when you're gonna use them, so I've usually added the month to make them more ameanable. Though, I guess I might have enough goodwill to make them fortifiable. Really, you're thinking of Fetishes. I can make those work - Bleeds has already asked about putting somethings together." She looks between Hector and Bird with her answer.

She looks between Bleeds Well and Bird as they discuss her mistake. "Nah, that's not possible. Dad always told me that I had... to..." She frowns. "But Windrider was... he... Oh no. I think I've been had." Her face twists into a scowl. "I was told they lasted a day. I think that was another 'protective layer' Dad put in place so I didn't end up 'swanning around naked for the first boy to smile'.... Uh, his words." She shrugs awkwardly. "Okay, so maybe there's still soem things I don't know," she admits sheepishly.

Looking back to Bird, the Crescent continues. "Well, as the name says, Decay spirits. They used to be plentiful around the old rail-yard.... I'll probably have to look a bit harder now the renewal is going on."

We'll need to start wrapping up! 3 days to go.

[Hector]

Hector has been listening, face pinched and focussed. He turned to the Irakka.

"You could chance tracking a decay spirit in the graveyards at the southern end of the territory. Don't know myself if the Resonance is quite right - but its a graveyard, right? Plenty of decay there. Or try one of the junkyards that dot the city. Surely they will attract the right kind of spirits for your decay dust."

He raked a hand through his greasy hair as he made a face.

"So. Stockpiling is probably out of the question. But developing a wide range of Talen ritual's isn't out of the question, right? And these Talen's dont take too long to make - so... Being able to prepare a small arsenal tailored to a variety of situations shouldn't be beyond the possible. Now that is worth considering - it's another arrow for our bow."

His head swivelled between the Rahu and the Ithaeur.

[Bleeds Well]

Bleeds Well looks away from Emily as she realizes she's been had. As the Alpha talks about their arsenal he nods, weapons are tools, and one can never have too many tools.

He doesn't have much more to add so he does what he does best, brooding as he listens, quietly picking up empty bottles and disposing of them.

good to wrap