[Private] The Source

Gavin arrived at the new locale with time to spare before the appointed meeting. New locales, new rules, new rituals. This extra time held purpose: To appease the smallest bits of the wyrd's rites. This place called for a greeting to each of the cardinal directions from the outside of the building. Walking the block he stopped by a mailbox, leaned on a tree, adjusted the strap of his sandal, and picked up a piece of litter and at each spoke his greetings quietly under his breath. Magic's ways were mysterious and took time and dedication to learn.

Swinging back around to the front of the pub, Gavin reminded himself to go out the same way he came in to maintain the blessing after he leaves, and entered the establishment.

He took a minute to look around the place and absorb the apparent superstitions upheld by the proprietors. Horseshoe correctly hung above the door to pool good luck in its shape and a lucky clover neatly pressed behind glass and displayed on the wall behind the bar.

Finding Kai in her well selected position to observe the room, Gavin joined her in facing the room when he sat down. After all, it could all change while he wasn't looking. "G'day! How are ya mate?" he added with cheer as he took his seat.

"Yeah, I could go for a coldie." rapping lightly on the wood of the table as he leaned back relaxing. "Been keepin' alright. Did a bit in the bush lookin' for the right kind of berries, short time ago. Stuff's a bit of hard yakka to find around here. Mostly slim pickings or the common variety. Keep ya fed, but doesn't pay the bills." He lets his cheer drop off and his expression goes flat.

He leaves it hanging like that a moment while flagging down the waitress.

"... but a good bushman's got his ways." His smile returns, flaring his eyebrows. Clearly he had some luck. "I know a couple of old bushman's tricks to point me in the right direction."

"Nibblies?" he tacked on.

Gavin had settled on some lattice-style fries. They hold the dipping sauces and cheese best; lots of surface area. 

When Kai started talking about all the trouble having kicked off, Gavin knew he was out of the loop on something important. "Been too flat out like a lizard drinking to keep up with the chin wag."


Pausing for consideration a bit at the request, "That's something I could use for a little bit; wanna give me the good oil on who's who and what's what? Someone get all dodgey about something?" It wasn't half a breath before he started firing off more ideas. "Maybe some good word here and there and an introduction?--I'm also looking for a Bruiser that might be interested in trading tricks, if you know any of that sort. Maybe you have some kind of specialty that could use a good customer?" 

'Ghost apocalypse' had a certain ring to it. The sleepless dead set to task seemingly with little concern for subtlety: capability without control. The culprits caught left him feeling slightly better about the situation, but with so many dead it was still very heavy. The Polychromatic's emotional state was worn on her sleeve. The weight of her mood settled into Gavin's expression tempering his outward enthusiasm. Not so much deflating as containing it out of sympathy. He had found a customer that wanted to apply his expertise, but now wasn't the time to be smiling. He sipped his beer to occupy his mouth. 


Gavin paused for the food to be delivered and contemplated the necessities of what might go into causing a wide-scale ghost possession campaign where they'd be driven to hunting someone down and that level of death. It was easier to stone-wall emotions when contemplating the logistics. Summer's supply lines were stressed by this; we're talking orders of magnitude here. He frowned. 


He decided it would require some access to spooks of the right pedigree and a place to repeatedly perform some brand of ritual to bind them to task. It would have required time and perhaps resources to enlist enough to cause this much trouble. They are probably right to suspect insider involvement--or maybe an outsider group with a particular interest? Either way, a group working together. 

"I'll keep an ear perked for wag about someone helping this whole thing go down," he offered genuinely, "It's quite concerning given the scale and outcome you're talking about."

"The Sheila the spooks were after, they ever find her or why they were after her?" Maybe their motive would help point the arrow.  

Gavin tried to imagine the potential politics he might be up against if he got involved in this bit of trouble by relating it to running up against a street gang, or a cartel. If someone was a shot-caller or better, they could just get stuff done and plenty of blokes from the lower end would just do as asked without looking too close. He understood the danger of that idea, but really couldn't grasp the shape of politics more nuanced than that. Things could get iffy.

"I'll try and keep things to myself until I get a handle on it." Unsure what that might look like when it happens, "Looking around so far, everyone seems alright. None gone feral that I can tell. I've not met many though, and none of the big hats." He had a lot to learn, and it showed. "Part of this whole exchange was getting a little help interpreting the who's who and what's what, right." At least his complete disconnect from society made him ask for some general help integrating, maybe he could learn.

He took note of the emphasis placed on the political nature of people. Gavin assumed that meant the Freehold. He found his eyebrows were raised and showed he expected everything was going to be a lot for a while, but nodded at Kai's advice.

"Yeah, I'll probably need to see a bit before I can put the bits in their spots." Reflecting on his words, he realized this whole thing fit into Autumn's teachings: Learn the rules to the game. "I'll wait until I see something bounces off my block; then I'll bring it up with you. Don't need to be the shark biscuit in with the white pointers though; If I'm walking off a cliff maybe give me a spin?" He added, hopefully.

"Otherwise, yeah, let's enjoy the food, the company, and maybe catch the score for that Knights game ... "