Druid of Ordú Croí de Ndúl (Verbena)

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"Blessed Cailleach Bhéara, Wise Hag of Winter, grant me your consecration of this, my áit naofa. Keep it separate and sacred to my draíocht and my ceird." I light a candle of silver swirled with a deep blue, pushing a tiny sliver of quintessence into the wax and thus the boundary.

I've started in the north, and will continue to do so until the vernal equinox, with one exception. Imbolc will also find me starting in the east. Wouldn't do to start other than with Brigid on her own day, after all.
Moving to the east, a candle of white swirled with a light green is lit and another sliver of quintessence imbued."Brigid, Triune, Healer, Smith, and Poet, grant me your consecration of this, my áit naofa. Keep it separate and sacred to my draíocht and my ceird."
South now, a candle of warm yellow, swirled with a deeper green. "Áine, Summer Sovereign, grant me your consecration of this, my áit naofa. Keep it separate and sacred to my draíocht and my ceird."
And finally, in the west, a candle of deep orange swirled with a golden brown. "Flidais, my own Urra, Lady of the Forest, grant me your consecration of this, my áit naofa. Keep it separate and sacred to my draíocht and my ceird."

Thus are the four quarters invoked. Slowly, I can feel the purification take hold more each day, making this a holy place in truth. I've decided this smaller herbarium will be mine alone, and a larger one attached to the greenhouse will serve the entire Thicket.

I spend a little time puttering, making sure things are where I want them, each cube labeled on the pull-out with the correct herb, both common and scientific names. Most of this has been done already, but I'm just enjoying my space and imbuing it with my own resonances. The only place nearly as comfortable when I'm done will be Ash's and my bedroom, which will be a sanctuary of a different kind.

Eventually, I sit on the floor, warmed by the brazier, and let myself be aware of the entire area, knowing each knot in the wood, each stem and leaf of the plants around me, connecting and binding myself to them. This will be a piece of me in a very real way.

After a while I pull my senses back into my body and unfold myself, shaking each limb in turn.

"Buíochas, Flidais, I offer, for your attention this day." I snuff the candle, leaving the sliver of quintessence with the others I've invested. Widdershins, each in turn is snuffed with a brief expression of gratitude to the respective goddess. I leave the herbarium and the area with a happy sigh and a sense of another brick laid in a wall meant to both contain and protect.

Corax

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...and the gorgeous actress turns into a singularly splendid elf. "I'm unsure how to address you, but My Lady seems at least mildly appropriate. I apologize again for interrupting your conversation." I give her a deeper bow and back away. At the very least, a little pandering to her obvious ego won't go amiss.

"Thank you. Do you have an email I can expect to hear from, so I can be sure to whitelist it?" Wouldn't do to have the contact go to the spam folder, after all. "Or is it still that early days?"

I smirk. "I made a client change his password to something I wanted once. He was being an ass, so I researched him a little, then gave him various meaningful clues, then forwarded an email suggesting he'd been the victim of a data breach encouraging him to change said password. He did so, changed it to precisely what I had suggested, and I loaded his account with pornography of a rather disturbing nature and made sure his wife found it. It was a full haystack of the last straws she needed to leave him for good, invoking their prenup as she went."

I'm actually rather proud of myself for that one, all around.

"My plausible deniability comes from the fact that I'll merely put you in touch with that department then go hands-off. It's up to the couriers at that point, at least to observation." Because yeah, I take care of my people, too. I'm just going to make sure the help I give is going to be behind the scenes, mainly by making sure Diego knows what's going on. Doesn't do to keep anything from the boss, after all. And it makes it easier for him to take care of all of his people.

Corax

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The bright smile certainly is a winner. "Miss Dunwick, if we're being formal. Amelia is fine, however." I give her a smile of my own, showing dimples and hold out my hand. "I'm employed by Helios Overnight Services, and we specialize in, among other things, courier services all over the world. Including regular routes from New York to Los Angeles."

I wait for her reply before turning to the excellent Ms. Hunter. "I enjoy your work very much. It's clear you also do." I manage to keep my voice even. It doesn't do for a woman pushing fifty to fangirl.

Got it in one, Chance. Also, John is July 13.

Corax

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The joys of remote work are that you don't have to go into an office on the regular. The downside of being a department head is that you end up going into an office that's a bit further away on occasion. Which is why Molly is at the doggo spa and I was on a plane to New York from Austin last night, and walking down Madison Ave today.

The Old Lady had long since nixed the tradition of only one of the feathered working for the company at a time. Come to think of it, probably about the time she decided to hand over most of the day-to-day to Diego. Before my time, for certain.

Regardless of my thoughts, my feet take me to the conference room where I plop my butt in a chair and catch up on the goings-on. One tidbit dropped in an encrypted e-file to a few of us is that there's a new place to check out, with the dish on how to get there. Turns out there'd been a nifty place in the umbra back when that got kablooied with a lot of other places some years back, but a new place by the same or some of the same people has shown up. Each of us is coded for biometric entry to a specific "executive washroom"... (I have to look up and roll my eyes at the ceiling for that. Seriously? I thought being granted a key to the executive washroom was a trope of ridiculous finance bro movies like Wolf of Wall Street!) ...and told what chiminage to offer the spirit bound to the full-length mirror. When it's made clear just what kind of spirit is bound, the chiminage makes sense. "Meep, meep" said aloud to a roadrunner spirit.

After the meeting and a bit of small talk, I head for the washroom in question and have my palm scanned so I can slip inside. Feeling just a little silly, I stand up straight and "Meep! Meep!" firmly at the mirror. A soft, answering "Meep! Meep!" accompanies a swirl of grey over the glass.

Gnosis, difficulty 7 (average city street, just in case)
10, 10, 9, 9, 8, 6

I step through somehow even more easily than I had through the doorway into the washroom and I'm in the foyer of a rather cozy café.

Kinain Sorcerer

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My eyes go a little wide at the limit on the card Eve's father hands me, just for a second. I smirk a little and offer "If you're ever looking for an obscure piece of... decoration for this fancy place, leave word at the Café for me. I've got a few people I can talk to and get a line on quite a bit."

I lift my right shoulder in a half-shrug. "Stands for the rest of you, too. No guarantees, but I'll see what I can do."

With that, I step through the provided portal back to the café and set about finding a way to get my happy li'l ass back to it on demand.