Karen wakes up and fails to notice she's been painted to resemble a clown.
Kris is sitting in the caern house, getting some work done when Marianna strolls in. Marianna says that she is calling in one of the favours Kris owes her. Marianna is a bit busy with Sam at the moment, so she doesn't have time to do some of the things she normally would. She explains that there are any number of small alternative spirituality groups in the city and surrounds. Most of them have no garou connection at all, but they do keep an eye on each group and protect them - for what often happens is that agents of the Wyrm find the group, infiltrate them and then either corrupt or disrupt them. Marianna tries to help stop this, but she can't save them all.
One group, calling themselves either The Society or the Whole Society has been... odd until now, but ok. It is centred around some core members that she has never actually met. She's heard some disturbing things recently though. I would like you and your pack to check it out - surreptiously. She knows they meet every Saturday and Tuesday night at Camberwell Library. Kris agrees and says she will have to talk with her pack. Marianna says "cool", and wanders off.
Karen panics some more, and asks some general questions. Melinda is quietly reassuring, and says that Karen is fine until about the third trimester, when she should not change until she has given birth. Melinda will see about getting Karen an appointment with a kinfolk midwife, and in the meantime, she should go and relax. Karen goes and stresses.
Dave and Kris go to the Camberwell Library for the talk by the Society. They are not alone. There are a number of people sitting and waiting - they are either alone or in pairs. There are some people setting up at the front, obviously in charge. Kris and Dave scope the people out and four people show up as wyrm-tainted. There is a heavy-metal t-shirt wearing teenager, who has a very light taint. There is a man in a suit, about mid-30s, with a distant but strong taint. Number three is a woman around 40, in a skirtsuit; her taint is laid on and metallic in feel. Finally there is a guy in his 40's, who is corrupted rather than tainted, but not strongly.
The session is brough to order by a man named Jack. He's a fairly large man, but with a cheerful disposition. His voice carries well as he introduces the first speaker, a woman named Fawn. She is a bit ditzy and talks erratically about Gaia and how to get in contact with that spiritual side of yourself, mostly through drugs. The suit-wyrm sits up and pays a considerable amount of attention to this, and something about him tells Dave 'cop'. Kris theorises that his taint could have been because of the people he would be associating with. Dave nods slowly and says "yesss, of course it is." When Fawn has finished, Jack announces an interval with tea and coffee.
Both Kris and Dave take the oppurtunity to mingle. The cop is talking animatedly to Fawn and Dave makes some effort to break that up. The teenager in the metal tshirt leaves and doesn't come back. Kris spends some effort trying to talk to the organisers. She catches a few names, like Jack, Fawn, Amanda and Sky, who is nursing a young baby. Jack calls the session to order and Amanda stands up on the podium to give a fairly concise and accurate history of Gaian cults and churches through Europe since the fall of Rome, and the history of the Inquisition. While she is doing so, Dave checks the Umbra. He freaks when he sees that both Sky and the baby have strong, glowing Umbral presences, and a couple of the organisers have faint, white-glowing presences. He also notices a faint shadow around the corrupted guy.
As Amanda's talk winds down, there is some polite clapping. Kris makes some effort to talk to Sky and she is cautious, but happy to talk about things. However, she has a tired baby with her, so she makes her excuses and says that Kris should come on Tuesday. As Kris says "sure", Jack comes up to Sky and asks if she will be staying at Glencairn. Both Kris and Dave freak. Sky says no, she wants to go back home to Ambrose and Ra will behave better there. The corrupted 40 year old chooses that moment to come up and enthuse at both Jack and Sky about how what the others were saying really hit a chord, and he will be sure to get back to them next Tuesday - he wants to know more. He positively glows with enthusiasm.
The meeting breaks up and Dave and Kris are left with a difficult choice. They decide to follow the corrupted human rather than the intriguing people with the umbral presences. They follow the guy out to his house in Doncaster and watch from the Umbra as he makes a drink and turns on his computer to make a few notes, seemingly about the meeting. They find a phone bill and his name is Malcolm O'Reilly. They do some exploring. It seems Mr O'Reilly lives by himself, and works as a Telstra executive. He also seems to call a place called Mde Zelda's a lot, and Dave notes a few different female scents in his bedroom, but no sign of femme occupation. Kris quietly steps sideways and plays with his computer a bit, printing out a stack of information, to be checked shortly.
They run off and stop to look at their scored information. It seems that Mr O'Reilly keeps tabs on a significant number of cults around Melbourne, including the Alternate Spiritualities club at Monash (where Kris gave a talk). His notes are not flattering, and as they move back in time, it becomes apparent that Mr O'Reilly makes a habit of infiltrating Gaian cults and then destroying them from the inside out. His notes on the Whole Society fairly match what Kris and Dave has discovered:
| The Society | [Contact info] |
| Sky | True believer |
| Fawn | Bimbo |
| Jack | Charismatic (not leader though) |
| Amanda | Intellectual |
| Ambrose? | |
| Glencairn? |
At dusk the moot begins. Ambrose, who has never seen a moot, stands and watches. Opening Howl and Inner Sky, led by Talechaser and then Tusulla. Moot business. First item - the Fianna leadership tussle. Melinda says that several members of the sept have been asking about the Fianna conflict. She says it is only natural to find one person more appealing than another in this sort of discussion. Therefore, the ban on interfering has been lifted, and individuals may throw their weight behind canditates, but the Sept is not to be committed as an entity, nor should any form of support offered to canditates impinge on Sept business. Andrea asks if Melinda could give them a run down of the eligible leaders. She says there are five main contenders; Daunal Jaras, whom people are familiar with; Cairbre Heart-of-Fire (4, Ah, Ho), who is a little impetuous and too ready to rush in, but is generally forward looking; Angus (4, Ga, Ho) whom Melinda knows little about; Wind-through-Leaves (3, Ph, Lu), a very well balanced and intelligent Fianna lupus; and finally Moira Dancing-fire (3, Ah, Lu) who is known to have Red Talon and Get of Fenris leanings. A few people shout out other names, such as Brendan Drives-forth-the-Wyrm, Trennath and No'iri'n, but Alf says that they are not serious contenders as yet.
Second item. Alyssa Wentworth. Melinda says "As most of the Sept knows, Alyssa has been cast from her tribe by Vlad Volaschky, because Vlad found her mate inappropriate. However, she has been cast from neither Sept nor pack, and Sleeping Green finds Vlad's request intolerable and does not recognise his decision - may the wind carry our voice to others so that they may know." Alyssa looks stunned, a few others look a bit surprised, but most people sort of half-nod.
Third item. Alf formally introduces Glory-to-Gaia to the Sept, and says that he has been sent from the Get of Fenris to replace the fallen Andrew. He will be spending some time with Harmony's Dream and they with him to see if he will become part of their pack. Glory-to-Gaia changes to homid and asks permission to speak. Alf nods. Glory-to-Gaia says "I have watched Harmony's Dream and their ways are different from mine. I have spoken to their totem, Meneghwo, and he is to be my totem. But I am not to be part of Harmony's Dream - I am to find others and form another pack. In the meantime, Sept leader, I would ask that your territory become mine." Alf changes form and replies in the Garou tongue "Glory-to-Gaia, we accept your presence in our sept. Your honour is our honour, our strength is your strength.". Glory-to-Gaia nods and flows back to lupus.
Fourth item. Ambrose and the Society. The sept is filled on the details of the situation. Marianna will not be the sept ambassador, instead Harmony's Dream is to babysit Ambrose and help bring his friends across. The kinfolk have as much to teach the sept as the sept can teach them.
Fifth item, and connected to Ambrose - Malcolm O'Reilly. Marianna says that after Harmony's Dream found and exposed him, the Starcatchers chased him down - literally. He won't be an issue again. Marianna's face shines with righteous fury and Darshani's mirrors it. Talechaser and Terri look a bit uncomfortable.
There are some other minor items of business - Kyle Bennett being lost after he changed his name. Bounteous Plenty is still chasing up on the reports of automatic weapons on the docks, with no sucess. Harmony's Dream is asked to do two weeks of caern duty, which they joyfully agree to. The Revel occurs and Ambrose is swept up in its fury. The others participate to a lesser degree.
When he returns, he is in the company of Scratches-at-Fleas, who pretends to have never met Karen. They exchange pleasantries and then get down to details. Mr Flynn (Fleas) is establishing a 24 by 7 secular youth hostel in Collingwood, with the aim of providing care and housing for homeless kids. He is looking for staff and Karen's name was mentioned to him by a number of people. He explains some more details and Karen says that it sounds great. Daniel goes to get some paperwork and Karen and Sam discuss the real situation. The position is semi-live-in - staff may be rostered on at any time of the day, and may be called out on emergencies at any time. Most of the staff will be kinfolk, but also some Garou are expected to take up positions to earn some money. Gavin Berkeley mentioned Karen was having some hassles with her job, so Sam thought she'd be perfect. The hostel isn't a front - it is a serious committment.
Daniel returns and Karen starts filling out paperwork. She has a fair amount of administrivia to finish up, and will be back in Tuesday and Wednesday to finish off. Sam says that the hostel doesn't fully open for at least another two weeks, but it would be good if Karen could spare some time before that to get familiar with the place. The two of them walk out together and Karen draws Sam aside for a moment and tells him that she's pregnant. He has no problems with it, and thinks it might actually help any of the people at the hostel who are pregnant if one of the staff is.
Karen gets away from that and rings Isaac. He is quite enthused to have caught up with her and suggests dinner, his shout. Karen gives him an address in the Lygon St and they meet for dinner. The two of them chat family things - their sister(s) and aunts. Isaac says he is working as a bonded courier for a business in Sydney - lots of travel around the world, some interstate. He says he is in Melbourne for the week, and has another pickup Friday. He'd like to spend the week catching up with Karen. She cautiously agrees. Karen drops Isaac off at his hotel.
Karen goes to work and spends some time cleaning off the last of her paperwork at work, clearing out her desk and generally saying goodbye to people. Most people are a bit surprised that she is leaving, but when she explains they nod knowingly. When she's finished (around 10pm), she picks Isaac up and they go to her house for coffee and cake. They chat until early morning. Isaac crashes because its getting too late. About 4am, Karen is awoken by a noise - she has a vague idea it might be the sound of glass crashing. She gets up and creeps into the hallway. She hears a noise near the stairs and can see Isaac, just. He seems to be standing funny and motions for her to get back. He creeps down the s stairs and Karen follows. There is a thud and a moan. Karen whips the light on to find an unconscious burgular on the ground and Isaac with a bookend is his hand. They look at the guy (bit derrelict) and decide to call the police. Isaac asks Karen for a big favour - if he is involved in a criminal investigation, his job could be at stake (hard to get visas, etc) - could Karen say she heard and hit the guy? Karen agrees and fills the police in when they get there. They cart the guy away and take statements from them both.
Kris visits Samantha.