Everyone Grows Up Eventually - Umbral Bawn - Jan 23

[Mouse]

It was cold. Too cold even for the raven that was sitting, feathers fluffed, near the warmth of the fire spirit. It slowly began to change, growing larger and pinker, until a girl of 13 stood in front of the fire.

It was hard to believe how much Rhia had grown since the attack that her and Razor Giggles had implemented on the vampires, both is a physical sense and in a mental sense. She was an Ales now, the youngest Ales Louisville had ever seen. Then again, she was the youngest Corax Louisville had ever seen.

She took a step closer to the fire, holding her hands out to the warmth. A crackling noise came from her mouth, a sound similar to the sound of the fire spirit, and she smiled when the spirit replied by bolstering itself and growing larger and brighter.

[DerekCase]

"That's a neat trick." Devon said smiling as he briskly walked to warm by the fire. On his shoulder skittered a large spider spirit, its hind quarters moving toward the warmth. "You're Rhia, right?"

[Mouse]

Rhia turned to look at Devon, and gave a small nod. "Yea...I'm Rhia." she said, reaching out to gently touch the spider spirit. She whispered to it softly, and she smiled. "He likes you." she said, looking up to Devon and giggling. "Odd company for one of you Garou though. A spider?"

[DerekCase]

"Not really for a Glasswalker. Skiri here has been with me since I was a baby. He's the spirit that was supposed to watch over me as a child. I had undergone the baptism of fire as a child. He just kinda never left." Devon smiled awkwardly, attempting to find the appropriate medium between friendliness and respectfulness. Rhia's age only complicated the issue.

"So, uh, you're not a Garou?"

[Mouse]

Rhia gave a slow nod, running her finger down the spider's abdomen. "Nope." she said, as if it were obvious. "I'm a Corax. a were-raven." She then smiled, taking her hand from the spider and turning to face Devon. She stood up a little straighter and offered a hand. "Rhia McGraven. Rited Flaming Pigskin. Ales of the Corax." she rattled off in the Garou fashion of introducing themselves.

[DerekCase]

The spider, being a friend thing, made a happy chittering noise in response to her petting. Devon took and her gently and introduced himself with a smile, "Well, Flaming... Pig... Skin..., I'm Devon Carter, Rited Paces the Car, Homid, Glasswalker, Ahroun, it's wonderful to meet you. Now Ales, what rank is that?"

[Mouse]

Rhia giggled when he said her ritename. "It's nice to meet you Paces the Car, or do you prefer to be called Devon? Ales is equivelant to the Garou's rank of Adren, but Corax work renown a bit differently than you guys do."

[DerekCase]

"Devon's fine. Well Ma'am, do Corax have auspices?" He asked, honestly curious. Sitting close to the fire spirit, he concentrated and shifted to through glabro, crinos, and hispo to lupus for the warm coat, all the way the spider spirit, holding steady to his shoulder. As the cracking, shifting noises faded, he smiled with a puppy grin, and said, "Sorry, I should have asked if you could speak garou."

[Mouse]

Rhia grinned. "I can. I've lived in a caern almost my entire life. I had to learn how. And for when I didn't..." she reached up and gently tapped the pendant at her throat. "This thing helps a lot."

She settled down next to Devon, running her hands through his fur gently to warm them. "We don't have auspices, though I've been told that Corax act a lot like your Ragabash. I've always thought myself more like a Theurge though."

[DerekCase]

"Ah yes, I noticed the whole spirit speech thing. I wish I could do that. It would make some things more simple, like seeing what it is that Skiri wants sometimes." He sat too rigid and attentive for a natural wolf, though he was obviously comfortable in lupus. "Do you have a sept position?"

[Mouse]

Rhia grinned. "An old friend of mine, named Lame Paw taught me how to speak to spirits. I bet a spirit would teach you how to if you asked it nicely."

Then she shook her head. "No I don't. I've never really thought of asking Speaks of Mist for one. I just do what needs to be done."

[DerekCase]

He chuckled, a strange sound as a wolf, "I can't ask if I can't speak to them. Besides it wouldn't be my place. I'm an ahroun, we're the slayers not the speakers."

[Mouse]

Rhia looks at Devon thoughtfully. "Perhaps...but it doesn't hurt to know how to speak to the spirits, even if you are a fighter. You never know when that spirit might be of use to you. I could ask a spirit if they'd be willing to teach you...that is if you are willing to learn."

[DerekCase]

Devon looks at his friend Skiri for a moment, and says, "I'd like that."

[Mouse]

Rhia nods then, and gives a small smile. "Alright. I'll help you find a spirit to teach you then." she said,as if that solidified things, and then she reached out and touched Skiri again, clicking softly to the spider spirit.

[DerekCase]

Devon looked around for a moment, "You ever wonder why there are almost never more than three garou in one place at one time lately?"

[Mouse]

Rhia gives a small shrug. "We're spread out between two caerns, and most everyone has scattered to the winds."

[DerekCase]

"Ah, still, I haven't had a challenge, a hunt, or a mission for a while. I'm just kind of sitting and performing basic caern duties." Devon laughed to himself. "I may end up being the longest lived ahroun in history. Aside from the Beta of course."

[Mouse]

Rhia giggles. "It's not so bad, is it?" she asks. "I mean, there could be worse things you could be doing."

[DerekCase]

"Yeah, Ma'am. I could be sitting in the umbra, staring into a fire spirit, doing nothing and be a ragabash."

[Mouse]

"Now now. Ragabash aren't that bad either." Rhia says, trying her best to sound chastising, and failing miserably. She grins.

[DerekCase]

"Well, Ma'am. I'll be ready when you think I am. For the gift, I mean. Right now though," He said, standing and stretching to homid. "I think I'm gonna see if there isn't something someone needs doing."

[Mouse]

Rhia gave a small nod. "Soon. I promise." she says, and then turns back towards the fire, letting her form burst up through a comical monstrosity of feathers and beak and then down into corvid form. With a strong flap of her wings, she takes off into the air.

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