Gwen paced in the basement, as she usually did, waiting for Jeremiah. She'd asked him to come down here, and even after repeating this ritual a good many times with different newcomers, it always made her nervous. Pups could take news and education well, or they could make it difficult for everyone involved. We'll see how today turns out. But either way, it was time to make him officially a part of the family of the Uratha.

The door opens and three footsteps are heard before Jeremiah stops. He felt fear, not fear of the dark but true fear and it was coming from down there. This place was still new to him, this sort of fear especially. He hadn't felt it since he was young and hiding under his bed, his parents yelling in the living room. The steps continue until he is standing on the floor.

"This place still creeps me out." His voice carrying an echo of the childhood memory.

At Jeremiah's arrival, Gwen stops pacing, and stands in one particular spot, dead center in the damp basement. She turns to face Jeremiah. "Perfectly natural." Gwen herself had become largely immunized to the locus, even thought it sent the occasional shiver up her spine. Am I letting myself grow away from the spirits? She dismisses the thought. No. "Come on," she says with an encouraging smile as she motions him closer. "We have a few things to take care of, and believe it or not, this is the best place to do it."

"Ok.." He walks over to stand a few feet from her doing his best to ignore the growing sense of fear. "So what uhh...do we need to take care of?" Jeremiah shifts his feet back and forth wondering what exactly had caused this locus to be geared this way.

"Well," she starts, unsure how to proceed. She'd learned that certain words had best be skirted around at times like this. Like 'branding'. "You've seen how we work, you've seen what we do. You've even witnessed what spirits are like. Like it or not, we have to make sure spirits respect what we do, and that they know we're here to stay." She shrugs. Dammit girl, you're beating around the bush. "I guess what I'm getting at is that we need to get you recognized among the spirits. It'll make you part of the family, and get you hilt-deep in the whole wolf thing." She hesitates, before saying a single word, unsure of whether she phrased that right. "Interested?"

"It's called Branding right? I've been paying attention when people talk about our kind." He pauses. "It doesn't involved actual branding right?...." Just because you can heal it doesn't mean it won't hurt like a bitch.

Gwen nods, relieved that at least she won't have to be the one to say that word to the kid for the first time. "No, it's not actual branding, at least not what you're thinking of. They're just marks, painless I swear. The spirits see them, and it tells them just how much respect the spirit world as a whole offers you." A hand reaches at the back of her neck, scratching as she tries to find the exact right words. "You might have seen mine when we went to stop those things that wanted to hurt Scavenger. Silver lines, like a pattern spiral here," she points to her left shoulder-blade, "and a wavy line here, and so on. Each of those means something to the spirits that see it, and they show respect if they like what they see. Does that clarify things a little?"

"Sort of like military insignia?" Yep taking something otherworldly and reducing it to an oversimplified way to make things make sense. Works every time.....

"Well, yeah, kinda." Gwen shrugs as she says it. Brands are Brands. Similes are nice and all, but they didn't beat understanding from what she had always seen and lived. "We'll take care of a few other things after that, but that's today's important part. So would you be ready to earn your first rank?" She asks that last with a hint of an encouraging smile.

"E...Earn my first Brand? I thought it had to do with deeds done or something." He glances around looking for Vinny or Mateo, was it a test? Gang beat in? A nervous smile answers Gwen's encouraging one.

"Well, yeah. But deserving it doesn't just make it earned. Someone has to tell the spirits you've done some pretty awesome things." Her expression smiles, just a bit cocky this time. "And I'm just the gal to do it." She cracks her knuckles. "All right, brace yourself, and give me a second." And without much more warning, she grows, and shifts into the near-man Dalu form. Craning her head to avoid brushing it against the ceiling, she shrugs and says, "It's easier this way."

Jeremiah nods in silence, the analytical part of his mind turning on a recorder so that he can remember this rite and how it goes. That should make it easier to learn later.

Gwen smiles, replies with a nod of her own. Then, she goes silent a moment, and clears her throat. "Ummm... I uh...", she starts. Dang she hates this bit. "I need you to take your shirt off."

Jeremiah looks at Gwen for a moment then shrugs. They are supposed to be family right? Pack was family. Besides the Oath specifically stated that wolf and wolf was not allowed. So its a no brainer. Gwen does however get to see his carefully established monitor tan. He glances down at the pasty whiteness. "Ya I probably should get some more sun."

Gwen chuckles, lightly, stepping around to Jeremiah's back. "Hey, I haven't said anything. This stays between you and me." Once she's at his back, she reaches over and place a single finger on his forehead. "Quiet now. This is gonna take a few minutes." One deep breath later, she starts talking. "Residents of the renewed hisil," she begins. From there, the words turn into something that sounds a lot more like a chant. "See this new brother of ours, and keeper of yours. He stands today before you for you to recognize his worth. He has shown himself willing to defer to his elders, ready to follow, and ready to learn. Though he is new to the spirit world, his understanding of spirits grows, and with it, his willingness to deal with all of you wisely. For this, he deserves your respect." While she says the words, her finger goes down between the Jeremiah's eyes, then down the bridge of his nose. Off to the left side of his mouth, and around his neck. Once there the rest of Gwen's fingers join the rest, and she starts to draw patterns on the nusuzul's skin. It doesn't take long for her second hand to draw its own pattern, separately, across Jeremiah's shoulder-blades. "Though he has only recently learned of the Oath, he has followed it, to the letter. He respects the promises we have all made, and follows our Father's legacy. For this, he deserves your respect."

Even as she chants, and adds more praise to Jeremiah's name, the patterns she draws begin to glow silver, thin lines and spirals across Jeremiah's face, his back, and down his right arm. Only the latter is truly visible to him, but the effect is nonetheless something entirely new. Gwen's chanting and drawing last only a few minutes, and by that time the brands have faded, leaving nothing visible to normal eyes. Gwen stops chanting, silent, letting the last few sounds of the Rite echo across the room. "There. Done." She steps back around to face Jeremiah. "Welcome to the family. A spirit'll come down here in a few minutes to give you the whole welcome wagon. In the meantime, I was thinking we could make sure you don't lose your shirt and pants every time you change shape." She makes the offer almost nonchalantly.

Jeremiah feels comforted by Gwen's hands as she works them across his skin. Not the exact sensation he thought he would feel when a women touched his skin but good none the less. He watches the traces glow silver and smiles to himself.

Amazing

"That would be great. Losing my clothes makes things very awkward."

Gwen nods. "All right. Well, we can take care of that next. Now you can't have a whole wardrobe for yourself, so you have to pick and choose the outfits. The more of a half-spirit you become, the more suits you can have. So, either pick your best clothes, or the ones you don't mind seeing go through the dirt and all." She holds out her hand, ready to begin that next Rite. But she stops, and looks at him. "You know what? You were under the Crescent Moon too. How about trying it yourself?"

"Ahh sure?.. What do I do exactly?" He pulls back on his shirt, wondering when he will get to see the silver glow on his arm and body.

Gwen turns to face the nusuzul again, letting her form shift back into Hishu. She didn't like how every use of Dalu risked banging her head on the ceiling beams, but such was the price for doing rituals close to the pack locus. "It's... complicated," she starts. "but at the same time not that big a deal. Rites are about making the spirits agree to whatever it is you want. It's a negotiation, a give and take. In this case, you just have to show the spirits that the clothes really are a part of you, of the spirit you, as much as the flesh you." She taps her chin with a finger for a moment, pondering. "Normally this goes better in Dalu, but let's wait for that until your clothes don't rip to shreds. First step is to draw some blood." She reaches over, and takes a small knife from the table. Her ritual knife, her favorite. She flips it and offers it to Jeremiah, handle first. "From your palm will be fine."

Jeremiah takes the knife slowly with a raised eyebrow. "Really?...Fine." He sounds dejected as he clenches his teeth and puts the knife to his hand. With a quick pull he cuts all the way across his palm.

"So?" Ya it hurts a little.

Luckily, regeneration oughta take care of the cut rather quickly. "Now, you just have to make the clothes part of you. You know, you you. From wolf to man to wolf to man to wolf to man..." she recites while drawing a circle in front of her in the air. "Each piece of clothing, one by one. Man to wolf, to man, to wolf. With your blood. Get it?" She gives him a small encouraging smile. Her first Rite had gone much the same way. There was a always a 'bwuh?' moment with this sort of thing.

Jeremiah dabs his finger into the blood and feels the wound healing. It itches like mad. He mimics the circle Gwen drew in the air once in the air then draws it on the right thigh of his pants. "Wolf to man, man to wolf" He murmurs to himself as he draws, dipping his finger into the rapidly drying blood on his other hand he repeats the circle on his shirt, echoing the mantra.

Gwen watches Jeremiah perform his first Rite, making sure he makes good on the deal with the spirits. "You don't really have to say it. It's more about... feeling it." Almost immediately, she adds, "I know it sounds vague, but really, that's what it is. You have to feel it, coax the spirits into getting with you, into working with you." She makes the motion again. "Keep at it. You'll feel it, you'll know it, when it works."

Jeremiah nods but continues to quietly chant the mantra to himself as he draws the symbols. Minutes pass by only noted by the occasional reopening of the cut on Jeremiah's hand. An idle part of his mind wonders whether he will scar from this or if his regenerative capacities would cover that. Eventually something just feels right and a tiny grin spreads across his face.

"I think I got it...these aren't clothes I would mind missing..."

Gwen watches Jeremiah go through the motions, tilting her head this way and that, analyzing to see if he's doing things right. She smiles. He was. She lets him continue, piece by piece. Once he's done, and affirms that it works. "Good. Listen. A spirit'll be down real soon, to see about giving you respects from the spirit world." She hesitates, just a brief instant. "So try out that clothes dedication. Change. Think about the wolf, and how much of it you want to show. Then you can try your hand at talking to a spirit." She waits, letting him change, and to see if the clothes changed with him.

Jeremiah nods and closes his eyes. Clearing his mind he visualizes a wolf and instinctively drops down into Urhan. Opening his eyes he looks back and forth trying see if there are any torn clothes. When he sees none he bounds around momentarily before coming back to sit before Gwen, his ears hanging in small shame of his actions.

Gwen kneels down, to be as close as possible to level with the wolf. "I don't see any shredded pieces of clothes. So, well done." She smiles at him, a little encouragement of the job being done. She resists, with all her will, the urge to reach out and scratch the wolf behind the ears. "Now come on, change back, the spirit'll be over soon. I can stay here if you want, or you can talk to it alone. Your pick." After all, the fear resonance might be getting to her packmate, and she sure didn't want to leave him alone if he wanted help.

The wolf head nods crazily and shifts into a human head. Jeremiah looks down and smiles as he sees he is wearing clothes still. Taking a moment to calm himself, and let what ever ran through his body as a wolf dissipate.

"Could you stay? If I accidentally piss it off I'd rather have someone who knew what they were doing around." Once again shaped like a human his calm demeanor contrasts with the puppy like attitude he had moments ago.

Gwen, nods, glad to offer help. "Sure thing. I'll let you do the talking, and if it gets dicey, just ask. Remember; it owes you respect, and you owe it respect. Don't let it step on your toes, but don't act like an overbearing jerk either." What she doesn't say, of course, is exactly how dicey is dicey enough for her to intervene.

And with that, she takes a step back, to see how Jeremiah handles one of his first direct dealings with spirits.