School of Hard Knocks

[Jonas Last Howl]

Early Sunday morning, after everyone's left for the evening, I show up down at the garage. With my arms filled with fresh steeped tea and Pooh Bears of clove honey, I kick gently at the makeshift door.

Trusty Jim parts the tarp, "Ey, there, Jonas....what brings Mr. Fancy Pants down here at this hou-hey, is that the Wild Orange?"

"Yeah, there are three, and that middle one's got your name on it. Just wait until I set them down." I walk over to one of the tables made of large industrial wire spools, and set out the teas. I pull the two Wild Orange teas out, hand one to Jim, and pick up the third. "Grandfather Nicholas around?"

"Yeah, he's topside..."

"Great, there's some trail mix and honey...spread the love..."I'm already on my way, "I gotta go"

Jim grumbles, "crazy ass white folk, that man could use Jesus..."

Before I reach the top of the stairs, I can hear Nick climbing off of his green and black plaid lawn chair. "I was wondering how long I was going to be waiting for you, Jonas."

"My apologies..." I hand him his tea. He motions for me to put it on his cinder block endtable. Damn, he can still make me feel like a cub sometimes. Worse now that I'm having personnel problems.

"My condolences." He takes a whiff of the tea from its resting place, "Wild Orange? Have you done something wrong?"

I frown. I know he knows. I stay as upbeat as possible, all things considered. "No, Grandfather, just came up for lessons. I have designs for once this fight is finished. There are things I must know. But before all of that, I must learn how to rouse spirits, especially if I'm going to be leading this moot. It goes beyond that, I need to know about the nature of spirits, and if any knowledge is known, formor."

"What about your Gaia's Fire?" He sips his tea

"There comes a time in the field where there is only time for orders, not lessons on spirits. Snap judgment is where I find myself periodically, and I'd do better if more informed."

[Grandfather Nicholas]

The old man nodded, and took a sip from his tea. "Do you have specific questions? I could talk at length on the nature of spirits and those possessed by them, or at least give you my theories on such. When dealing with the Tellurian, you will often find that there are radical differences in opinion."

[Jonas Last Howl]

"I'm sure there's a laundry list of things I could ask...the nature of different types of banes, dealing with spirits, the Aetherial Realm," I take a seat against the ledge. "For instance, we ran into some Callous banes tonight. I'm curious to know which comes first, if an answer exists at all...the chicken or the egg...the corruption of a man's heart, or the introduction of banes in his life? If the influence of the bane is removed, can a man be rehabilitated, or is there a high chance of recidivism due to the nature of the man? I know this brings up the age old questions of internal and external locus of control and nature vs. nurture...but I bring this up because of events earlier this evening. A man, who was raised in a household, brought up to believe that certain races are impure, and believes that the only way to cleanse it is by fire. He was the firebug...the sorority house, the mosque, those were him. He left for awhile, and we lost his trail. He came back, we found him, Callouses in tow. I believe his upbringing leaves his heart fertile ground for the Wyrm. You can't salt the earth with a stern talking to. The people of this city would not have been safe..."

I take a sip from my cup, squirt some honey from the Pooh-bear straight into my mouth. "I'm not looking for someone to stroke my conscience...I'm looking for answers. Can the removal of banes from the area stop someone like this, or is it just dutch-boying the dam?"

[Grandfather Nicholas]

"Unfortunately," Nicholas began, "...there are no complete answers to those questions. It is difficult to discern from the outside. The triad exists within us, both human and garou. It can influence our actions in both small and large ways. It possible for someone to commit acts to feed the Wyrm without being noticed by a bane. In which case, the individual attracts banes...they feed on his destruction, maybe even nudge him to commit further acts. If you were to deal with the banes, he may commit crimes again...and the cycle would repeat."

Nicholas adjusted his glasses, and scratched the tip of his nose briefly. " On the other hand, there are people who targeted by spirits of the Wyrm who drive him to commit evil acts. If you were to remove the spirits, the person would, in theory, not repeat....but it is difficult to say for certain."

[Jonas Last Howl]

"That was pretty much my understanding of it. It would seem that, if a person maliciously liked what he was doing and believed he had a purpose, chances are that he would be one of the first type, and should be treated as an opposing combatant. While, on the other hand, someone makes a poor judgment call, hates it, but is still plagued with the banes that were attracted by the action...they could be redeemed once the banes were removed. Give those to someone who can talk them through the guilt."

I skip a small stone across the roof...wonder if there was a purpose to that stone being just so, even if it looked innocuous. "Change of gears, the Aetherial Realm...since I have a good feeling that I might have to go back there at least two more times, if we wish treaties and moonbridges between our Sept and the Silver Aerie and (the other one in Colorado, following Earthquake). I'm pretty decent sealing the deal with living folk, but what about spirits. I'd like to get better at making the Umbral folk happy. I want to try to get in better graces with them...better gifts, better homes, better relationships. Like Phoebe, if I were to bring Phoebe a gift, it would be a..."

[Grandfather Nicholas]

" If we wish to create additional moonbridges, we will not need to retrieve additional pathstones. However, the Caern is not strong enough to maintain a moonbridge between the Azure Eye and Righteous Fury...Alabaster Aerie in South Caroline may be a different story."