Spell Casting 
Manny and Stephanie's first date
The day (or should I say evening) of Stephanie's alchemical ritual
arrives. She greets you at the door, invites you in and asks you to draw the blinds in the front of the apartment while she gets changed. Then she goes into the bedroom.
There are no electric lights on in the room, but several candles are lit, as are two oil lamps that you have the distinct urge to examine for genies.
"Take off your watch and any other jewelry and put it on one of the book shelves away from the table. Anything else that can tell time, too, like a cell phone or pager," she calls from the other room.
You have just enough time to do this when she comes out wearing a white robe that at first reminds you of Minerva's, but then you notice the differences. The robe is trimmed in gold and set with many pleats and is cut shorter. All of this accentuates Stephanie's curves, but then Minerva was girl and Stephanie definitely is not. Hmmm, maybe it's not the robe...
She's also wearing a gold circlet around her brow it looks like a twocobras twining about her head. There are wide bracelets of gold or brass at her wrists. She holds out a pair just like them to you.
"Put these on, they're to purify your hands and insulate you from the spell," she says and walks past you to the table. Your eyes sweep down past the hem of her robe (also trimmed with gold) and note that, while she has a shiny chain around one ankle, she's barefoot...and has legs that you couldn't mold from clay if you had weeks to form them...
Wearing your new jewelry, you join her at the table. In addition to the oil lamps, two braziers are on the table, one in the center, one off to the side. The table is covered with a cloth in a pattern that is two parts astrology chart, one part pentacle and one part periodic table of elements in hieroglyphics.
She sprinkles some leaves and twigs into the brazier to the side and the emit a pungent cloud of smoke. She turns a small dial on the second brazier and the coals within flare to a brighter light.
She starts the ceremony with the incantation she taught you. You pick it up from her, and falter on the timing the second time through. She look up at you quickly and continues the chant until you get more confident. Once you have it again, she starts combining the ingredients in a small metal cup.
You start to feel the power rising. Unlike any kind of Garou magic,
where you normally feel or hear the wind or some other natural phenomenon, this energy seems to rise up through the floor and cling to your skin like static electricity or the prickly heat inside a closed car in the summer heat.
This didn't happen last time, you think. I guess the timing does have something to do with it. The chant is coming very naturally to you now. It occurs to you that she never really told you exactly what the words meant. Sure hope you're not summoning Cthulu or anything...
She's finished putting the components together. She turns the wheel on the brazier a couple more times and the coals burn brighter. She puts the cup over the heat, the contents start to sizzle. A few seconds later, an acrid vapor rises out of the cup. She begins a counter-time chant, this is the tough part for you, you can't let her synchopation cause you to falter. It could be the concentration or it could be the sensation of oppressive heat that is accompanying the power, but sweat is beading on your forehead.
The trickle of smoke slows to almost nothing. Peering into the crucible, you see a blob of...somthing glowing softly. It seems to be shrinking slightly and the glow is fading. The glow disappears entirely as you reach the end of the verse. You stop, it seems right, but then you get the panic realization that you STOPPED and you're not sure if you should have! Looking quickly to Stephanie, you see that she's not chanting either and doesn't look upset that you've stopped.
She gives you a quick smile and reaches for a small metal stylus. You examine the substance that the two of you have created. It looks for all the world like a big wad of gum that's sat on the side of an asphalt street and collected a months of tar and dirt. Kind of anticlimactic, you think. This is the "Dust of Forgetfulness?"
Stephanie takes the crucible off the brazier and sets it on a block of wood. Then, she takes the stylus and prods the blob. After two or three stabs, the black skin of the lump breaks and pulls back, revealing a small pile of white powder, a little chunkier than flour with a slight blue tint to it. She lets out a huge breath of air.
"Looks like it worked," she says. She takes a pair of small paper envelopes out from under the table. It looks like she may have folded them herself. She starts scraping the powder into the envelopes.
"But, I suppose I should test it," she says bringing her hand up to her pouting lips and blowing across her palm and into your face!
Gakk! You stagger back with a gasp. And...nothing happens, there's not even a cloud of the dust in the air.
"Just kidding!" she giggles. You groan inwardly at her joke and suddenly she has her arms around your shoulders and gives you a quick peck on the cheek.
"Thank you, Manny, I couldn't have done it without you." Another big sigh, "Want a beer?"
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