Currently in Saint Claire, it's a sunny day. The temperature is 66 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the northeast at 8 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.29 and falling, and the relative humidity is 45 percent. The dewpoint is 44 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius.)

Farmhouse: Kitchen and Dining Room

Homey is the first word to come to mind when looking at the farmhouse's kitchen. Dark, wood-paneled wainscoting covers the walls to about waist height, dark beige wallpaper continuing to the ceiling. Twin refrigerators occupy the north wall, facing the large six-burner stove on the south. The kitchen counter runs the length of the eastern wall, broken only by the double-basin sink. Cabinets run above and below the counter and a twin-pane window is set in the wall above the sink. A small pantry is set into an alcove alongside the refrigerators, presumably holding the deep freezer as well as shelves of dry goods.

Some twelve feet above the floor, a large chandelier hangs from the ceiling, lighting the dining room and casting long shadows over the bar to the kitchen. A long table occupies the center of the dining room, three chairs setting along each side, and one on each end. On the west wall, a large window looks out on the trees alongside the western pasture. Set into the north wall is a large cabinet, its glass doors closed on shelves containing a full compliment of fine china and glassware as well as a few decorative nicknacks. On the east, a wide bar separates the dining room from the kitchen.

An opening in the southern wall allows passage to the front entryway of the house, while a sliding glass door in the kitchen opens to a clearing behind the house.

Obvious exits:
Hallway/Living Room Back Door

In the front rooms, Flash pauses at the bottom of the stairs to give the stranger a curious look, but his ultimate destination's the kitchen, and that's where he heads, with little pause.

In the front rooms, Flash goes through the aperture at the northern end of the front hallway to enter the back room of the house.

In the front rooms, Returning from the kitchen with a coke, Trevor hands it to Eve. Flash gets a nod.

In the front rooms, "Thanks," Eve says as she accepts the coke, watching as Flash zips past. "Who was that?"

In the front rooms, Alicia steps in from the porch, closing the front door behind her.

In the front rooms, "Flash. Also known as Shit-For-Brains. He's a Stargazer who lives in my Hayloft."

Natalie's just coming in from outside, pausing at the threshold to knock her shoes clean. She drops a nod to Trevor's back which easily shifts to a nod for Flash's front. "Hey. I was looking for you."

In the front rooms, Eve blinks once, twice, and finally a third time. "Stargazer? You've got to be kidding me." She stares at Flash's back.

Flash pauses at the fridge, one hand on the handle, still prior to opening it. He cocks his head, looking curiously at Natalie. "Me?"

In the front rooms, "No, no, honestly." Trevor grins. "I think his Tribe left him behind, for reasons that become rapidly obvious when you get to know him."

In the front rooms, Alicia slips into the house through the front door after coming back from the Caern. "Hey, Megan come back yet?" She asks with a soft huff.

"Yeah, you." Nat's left foot thocks once more against the outside of the house, then she considers the growing crowd in the front room. "Huh. You wanna come outside? You mind?"

In the front rooms, Eve shakes her head. "I haven't seen her."

In the front rooms, "No. But Alicia-Rhya, she isn't going to come back that regularly. She dosn't live here anymore." [Trevor]

Flash glances over toward the front rooms, then nods to the Glass Walker and, with a smirk, bows and gestures toward the door. "Age before beauty."

Without missing a beat Nat turns and heads outside, tossing teasingly over her shoulder, "Pearls before swine."

After sliding back the kitchen door, you pass through into the back yard of the farmhouse.

Barnyard

The lane wends its way back and around the farmhouse to here, where it widens into a broad, grassy sward contained only by the woods which encircle it on three sides. Buildings break up the purity of the landscape: an open-sided structure which serves as a garage and the big barn, empty of livestock, to the east. A good-sized vegetable and herb garden furrows the land south of the barn, while a pyramid-like pile of rocks, of similar consistency to the gravel of the lane, rests a few yards south of the garage.

North of the buildings, the fields have long been fallow, hastening a conversion from farmland to natural prairie. A sliding glass door allows admittance to the farmhouse, the interior obscured by Levolor(tm) blinds in a wood-grain pattern. The lane leads out around the house to the southwest. The discerning can just barely pick out the beginnings of a faint path into the woods towards the southeast.

Obvious exits:

FIelds BArn Farmhouse Lane Woods

Flash slides open the kitchen door to come out to the back yard.

Natalie hangs back a bit, waiting for the 'Gazer, her face tipped up to the sun. How... Springy.

Flash sniffs the air as he heads out into the sunlight and squints. "Mmm. Gonna be shorts and beach weather soon."

Natalie says, "Back home this is shorts and beach weather. Not to mention cruising the lakes." She considers barn, fields, and woods in turn, then shrugs and gestures broadly. "Your choice. Got a preference?"

Flash grins toothily. "Oh, oh, the fields! Say, you're not gonna propose or anything, are you, Miz Nat?"

Natalie eyes him sidelong. "...Maybe," says Miss Coy. "But you have to promise to do the windows and laundry. C'mon." Off toward the fields she heads, trusting that Flash'll be a good boy and follow.

Going north around the barn, you enter the natural fields which used to be worked farmland.

Farmhouse: Fields

What once was worked cropland has been, over the last several years, allowed to go to seed, and the result is the natural prarie which has developed, enclosed on three sides by the forest. It covers several acres of land with grasses as high as a person's waist, large enough to be out of earshot of the barnyard but uniform enough that anyone in bipedal form could be seen approaching through it.

The looming buildings of the farm can be seen to the south.

Obvious exits:

BarnYard

Flash tails after the Glass Walker with a smirk on his lips and his hands tucked into the back pockets of his jeans.

Natalie leads until they're well out of earshot of the farmhouse, and nearly vision as well. "...There. So. Actually, I don't give a flying leap if you do laundry, I figured that out myself. I wanted to see about taking you up on some Rites, like you said at the Moot."

Flash flicks hair out of his eyes. "Ooh, that." His smirk stretches into a slanted grin. "Anything in particular you were looking to learn?"

Natalie answers immediately, "Rite of Cleansing. Eve," she jerks her head back toward the farmhouse, squinting against the sun, "Says she knows it and would teach it to me, but she didn't exactly sound thrilled, you know? Monosyllables don't equal eager happiness in my book."

Flash purses his lips. "Don't know that one," he admits, scratching the back of his neck. "Lessee... I got Talisman Dedication, the Rite of Contrition, the Rite of Silence... which is a nice one, really... and the Rite of Comfort, though that's a pretty Child of Gaia thing. Also the Dance of Lights, Feed the Earth, and the Hangover Cure."

Natalie blows out her breath, clearly disappointed. "Well, crap. Oh well. I know Dedication and Hangover too. What's Dance of Lights?"

"Helps you work out the answer to a puzzle," says the Stargazer. "Clears the mind and such."

Natalie huhs and chews thoughtfully on the inside of one cheek for a minute. "Could be useful. Fair trade, maybe? Rite for a rite? I know Bone Rhythms, Caffeination, Gathering for the Departed, and the biggie: Rite of Passage."

Flash chuckles. "Oh, yeah, like I'm gonna be teaching any Gazer cubs anytime soon." He thinks a moment. "Hmm... Caffeination... I heard a hacker-wolf talk about that one. Okay, deal." He spits into his palm and holds it out for shaking. "Dance of Lights for the Rite of Caffeination."

"Deal." She eyes the spit-laden hand for half a second, then with a little shrug spits into her own and seals the deal. When in Rome, right?

[End of log]