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Soulcatcher looks up from where he sits by the falls, ears alert.
Andrea leads the two female cubs into the caern. She is carrying a
knapsack over one shoulder, and she has her head bowed into the cold
wind. She smiles at Soulcatcher slightly, then says, "How you can sit
next to this stinging water in this weather is beyond me. I suppose
it's your heritage."
Soulcatcher chuffs an answer, just the same. ~Practice. Although tonight
it's more like self-punishment.~ without offering anything further,
the Wendigo lifts himself up and begins padding toward the center.
Before he reaches there, he's shifted up into his birthform.
Julie follows Andrea, glancing about a bit nervously. She remains quiet,
and hangs back a little ways. Her shoulders are hunched, bringing her
jacket up against her ears.
Coda seems to be more at ease than the other cub, just kind of standing
lazily around with her hands stuffed in the pockets of her jacket to
help ward off the cold.
Andrea turns to Joseph and nods. Her humor has faded, as shown in her
respectful but unsmiling nod to Robert. "Go ahead and begin," she
says. "I must start the rite before we go." With that, she places the
knapsack on the ground and motions both the cubs closer to her.
Robert smiles gently at the elders, then the cubs, as the group comes
into the center. At Andrea's words, he takes a half-step back,
watching the edges of the caern more than the other Garou.
Coda steps up to Andera, as requested.
Julie swallows, and lets a held breath go to crystallize in the air
before her. A glance is shot towards Coda, before she nods to the men.
A couple steps, and Julie too is at Andrea's side.
Andrea pulls out several woven containers with paste inside. She marks
first Coda, then Julie, with the glyph for homid. Her fingers are cold
and sure against wind-numbed skin. The paste leaves a red smear to
show the glyph. "Red for blood and blood for birth," she begins. "So
you were born into the homid breed, so will you be born again after
this night as adults into your tribes."
Julie smiles nervously to Andrea.
Joseph lays one gentle hand on the white pillar at center. The other
comes to rest on the pathstone itself. The Wendigo's eyes close while
he concentrates, a low song on his lips no louder than a whisper.
Coda's eyes drift up in a futile gesture to her forehead as if trying to
see the glyph painted there.
Andrea wipes her fingers on a square of leather before starting the next
color. This time, she decorates Julie first, then Coda. Where the red
homid glyph is drawn on the forehead, this glyph is drawn in a grainy
grey paste on the left cheek. "Grey for Luna's face that watches
above. Born galliard, singer, the one that dances down the moon. Born
philodox, judge, the one that weighs the ways. Middle moons, both,
between the new and full, neither fully of light or shadow."
Julie holds her gaze lowered to the ground through this.
Coda swallows, jamming her hands into her pockets even further, to try
to keep herself from fidgeting.
The tribal glyphs are done in different colors. Coda first, in a vibrant
green, "Green for life which all her Children share. Healing hands,
helpful words, the return of Gaia to what she is." Julie is next, in a
oily black. "Black for the shadows that house the Gnawers of Bone.
Listening ears, watchful eyes, survivors in the darkness." Finally,
the theurge simply annoints the eyelids of each cub with a whitish
cream that smells pleasant. "May your eyes see truth. May your tongues
speak true. May you reach to your adulthood and grasp it with both
hands. Coda Speaks-Straight of the Children of Gaia. Julie of the Bone
Gnawers." Andrea takes a step back. "Do you accept the charge I lay on
you tonight?"
Julie clears her throat softly, then lifts her head, gaze settling on
Andrea's steadily. "I accept."
Joseph's song grows a little louder. With it, the air around the center
of the caern begins to shift. Tendrils and wisps of fog from the
perpetual cloud that lingers near the floor of the caern kick up and
dance among the garou. As the wind picks up, the pathstone begins to
glow. A tenuous thrum is heard, just before the light breaks with a
brilliant flash. It pours down into the caern from above, seemingly
out of the thin air--a tunnel-like shard of shimmering, vibrating
light.
Coda nods. "Yup," she says.
Andrea gestures at the tunnel of light. "On the other side is a Garou
that is falling into the darkness. The Gaians have forbidden her to
bind so many unicorns to healing talens, and her last weapon against
grief is gone. She is a lupus of the Bone Gnawers, and her pack has
died around her. Prepare your words, galliard of her tribe, philodox
of the Gaians. You are charged with bringing her from her darkness
before she falls into the final despair." She motions with a sweeping
motion. "Go!"
Julie blink at the charge, before she nods and gives Coda a motion to
follow, and the Gnawer cub starts up the tunnel.
Coda nods again at the words, and turns towards the tunnel. She takes a
deep breath, and with a look to the other cub, marches through it.
Andrea, perhaps surprisingly, follows behind the two cubs.
The trio are only on the moon bridge for a few long moments, as the
physical distance to their destination is not so far. The two cubs
step out first, then Andrea steps behind them before the light falls
into itself and closes. Eyes adjust slowly to the relative darkness of
their destination. The faint patter of rain can be made out overhead,
on the interwoven branches of tall pines. A large marble basin with a
fountain in the center also adds to the rustle of water. The tall
blonde man sitting on the fountain edge, in contrast, is totally
silent. His ice-blue eyes study the three arrivals, but he makes no
move to stand. Behind him, a black woman has her hands pushed in the
pockets of a thick overcoat.
Julie takes in the immediate scenery, then just beyond, listening. A
smile timidly makes its way onto her lips, barely visible through the
veil of dirty blonde braids over her face. The grime-smudged cub takes
a sidestep, then glances to Coda.
Coda studies the other two people here as soon as she steps out. A
thoughtful grunt escapes her lips as she looks behind her to see what
Andrea does.
The man pushes up from his seat and stalks a few paces toward Andrea and
the two cubs. His gaze rakes over the glyphs barely-visible in the
poor light, then he looks to the other adren. Andrea shakes her head
slightly, and he nods. Again, he fixes his eyes on the cubs. "State
your name and business."
"Coda MacKenzie," she says, "a Philodox Children of Gaia on her Rite of
Passage."
Julie clears her throat, then announces herself. "Julie Hackett, Bone
Gnaw'r an' Galli'rd. I'm here, hopin' t' help someone before she's
lost."
Andrea speaks last, lower than her wont in introductions. "Andrea
Moon-Laughs-Quiet, Voice, Ritemaster, and pack Ouroboros. I am here to
observe and as a last resort." The blonde man nods crisply at each
introduction, then offers his own. "Kevin Strauss, Glass Walker
warrior. I'm the head of Dog-Eat-Dog, and we guard Greysky." The black
woman walks up behind him as he introduces himself, apparetly set at
ease by Andrea's identification. Her tone is a firm contralto, and
there are glints of silver in her dark hair. "And I am Danielle Moore,
twice child of Cockroach in his caern, and Gatekeeper here. You have
come to speak to Broken Charge, then, as your passage?"
Coda nods. "Sounds like it."
Julie nods slowly, the gravity of the situation sketched to them clear
in her eyes. "Yes'm."
Danielle Moore gestures toward Kevin. "The guardian will take you where
she lairs, then. I'm afraid I have work to get back to inside."
Julie nods and turns her attention to the Warrior.
Coda nods, looking at Kevin.
Kevin jerks his shoulder toward a break in the bushes. "This way." As
the burly man pushes his way through the branches, several snap back
and hit whoever follows right behind him. He talks as he walks,
seemingly unconcerned that he has strangers at his back. "Not many of
the Gnawers stay on site, except the ones in my pack. She's kind of
scratched out a hollow under an old rotted log."
Julie frowns lightly as she listens, holding her hands up to ward off
the back-snapping branches. "She lettin' anyone near her withou' much
fuss?"
Kevin's shrug can be heard in his voice. "She doesn't seem to care.
Hell, I'm not sure she'd bite if I shaved her naked and painted her
purple. Never seen a lupe take it so hard. Must be because she's a
seer."
Coda pauses in her steps behind Julie, frowning to herself, distracted
from the conversation. She shakes her head as if to clear her thoughts
and steps up the pace a bit to catch back up. "Take what so hard?"
Kevin's step pauses. "You haven't been briefed?" He sounds disapproving,
but Andrea is behind everyone and no one can see her expression. "She
lost her pack in a brutal fight some months back. Bull pack, it was,
always getting into stuff. Bit off more than they could chew, and she
couldn't heal them all. She's the only one that survived."
Coda winces. "Harsh."
Julie offers quietly, "She cou'dn' ge' help from her totem?"
The ahroun's rejoiner is quick. "Harsh is the way of life. Generally,
lupes know that. And Bull's a lot of thing, missy, but a healer isn't
one of them. The totem got pulled down in the fight too, we think.
When a pack loses that many so fast, sometimes it's hard to tell what
happened to the spirit afterwards." He finally reaches a clearing and
gestures for the cubs and Andrea to pass him. "It's that way. You
can't miss the smell."
Julie shakes her head faintly, sorrow touching her features. "Thanks,
Sir," she offers as she steps past slowly, glancing around as she
sniffs the air.
There's a definite stench to be sure. Part of it is the stink that all
Gnawers share, but it's more than that--a smell of sickness and rotted
meat. It leads into the clearing, where the grass dips down into a
valley.
Coda nods in a greement with Julie. "Somehow," she says to Julie in a
low voice, "I don't think that a group hug is going to fix things."
Andrea makes no comment. In fact, her outline blurs slightly against the
shadowed grass, making it easier for the cubs to forget she listens.
Julie snorts an agreement, the smell of dying all too easily recognized.
"She's gonna need lotsa help." This is said quietly, even as she
starts down towards the valley. "H'lo?" she calls out, trying to sound
gentle.
The cubs get quite close to the valley before they get movement. Finally
they hear a low growl--less threatening than perfunctory. Strangers.
Who?
Julie stops, letting her gaze fall to where the movement is, and she
crouches, to present a less-formidable silhouette. "M' name's Julie,
I'mma Gnaw'r Galli'rd cub." Her tone is even, soft, no threat shown
whatsoever.
Coda leans in real close to Julie and whispers something to her, before
leaning back and introducing herself. "I'm Coda MacKenzie, Philodox of
the Children of Gaia, and a cub."
You whisper "Don't show it, but we're not alone. And I don't mean just
Andrea and Kevin. There's others. Stay sharp." to Julie.
Julie nods ever so slightly at the whisper, but that is all.
Finally a four-legged figure emerges from the darkness of the valley.
There's filth ground into her fur, and her dark eyes regard the two
cubs dully. Human words, she says. Hurts.
Julie nods faintly. "I don' doubt it." Dull blues gaze back steadily, a
hint of understanding within. "Ev'n after doin' all you cou'd."
The lupus stares at Julie for a few breaths longer, then turns to go
back into her hollow.
Julie lowers her gaze, sighing quietly. "Mind if'n we join you? It
smells like you cou'd use a bit o' bandagin'."
There is no answer.
Coda scowls. "And a bath," she mutters to herself. She puts a hand on
Julie's shoulder, "Let's talk to her in a language that's more...
comfortable."
Julie glances up to Coda and nods. "Yeah, prolly makin' her nervous like
this."
Coda shakes her head, disagreeing, and shifts down.
Still silence. No protest, at least.
Julie frowns, then ohs quietly, then nods and also shifts down.
Blotches sneezes several times, then licks at her muzzle, the ragged
hackles on her back rising briefly. Flesh-rot, guilt, more, smell bad.
Don't smell anymore, comes the answer from the overhung valley. Doesn't
matter.
Speaks-Straight sits down, peering into the hollow. Why?
Blotches perks at the reply, and she nudges Coda with her nose. Swinging
her head in the direction of the valley, her head cants in query,
though remaining quiet for the time being. Instead, she glances
around, studying the play of shadow surrounding them.
Broken Charge again edges out, blinking against even the dim light of
the moon. Here in the clearing, the raindrops are felt against fur as
the rain picks up. Why what?
Blotches snorts, satisfied, before returning her gaze to the broken
lupe. Why not smell? Why not matter?
Broken Charge flicks one uncaring ear. Useless, she says. They died.
Should have died with them.
Speaks-Straight asks, again, why?
Broken Charge stares at the cub for several breaths. You are young, she
says. You do not yet know failure and death.
Speaks-Straight snorts.
Blotches growls quietly, black lips rippling over her teeth, though the
whites remain hidden. Blotches has. Mother, friend, those Blotches was
supposed to protect.
The filthy theurge cocks a questioning ear. Not much real interest, but
more than before. What happened?
Blotches sits back on her haunches, lifting a hind foot and craning her
neck, scratching under her muzzle. Mother killed in scab, fire burn.
Blotches was alone then. Companion, sick in winter, died, Blotches did
not take care of her friend, failed him.
Broken Charge regards Blotches, then says, You are still a cub. You do
not know how to help, like I should have.
Blotches sneezes then lowers her head in respect. Blotches concedes to
wisdom.
Broken Charge lets out a rattling sigh. Can't have pups, she says
finally, with an abrupt change of subject. Men did things, before I
knew myself. My pack was my family.
Speaks-Straight blinks, surprised at this. What about your sept, your
tribe?
Blotches whines softly, ears splaying in sympathy. She sinks to her
belly, her nose almost on the ground, and slowly begins to scoot
forward, towards Broken.
My tribe is all the man-born, is the theurge's answer. They do not come
to this place unless they must, nor do they want one waiting for the
end in their dens. Broken Change looks surprised at the cub's antics,
and the first flicker of true emotion breaks through her tired
demeanor. She reaches out and licks Blotches' ruff, as if the cub were
a cub indeed.
Blotches sighs heavily, and licks lightly at the other's paw. Then no
wait for end, heal, continue, find new family. Take in no-packs that
are looking?
Broken Charge looks uncertainly at Speaks-Straight, then returns her
attention to Blotches. I do not know if I can fight again. My rage has
died. And I tried to turn to healing, but the horned one's children
stopped me. The theurge indicates a scar, hardly visible under the
muck, on one shoulder. I was punished.
Speaks-Straight lays down lazily. I doubt your rage has died.
Broken Charge answers that she has not felt the moon's pull in these
last months, not even to answer the ~Revel.~
Speaks-Straight figures that it's too busy being used for other things.
Broken Charge flicks her ears uncertainly.
A contemplative rumble is heard deep inside Blotches' chest. Then listen
to it for yourself, instead of for others.
Blotches earns a curious look. What do you mean?
Speaks-Straight looks at Blotches curiously, too.
Blotches huffs, shakes her head faintly. Not listen to Blotches, moon
trying to fill her.
Broken Charge loses interest again as the cub backs off.
Speaks-Straight sits up, and chuffs to gain Broken Charge's attention
again. Do you know where your rage is? What it is doing?
Broken Charge does not. She has told you. She has not felt it for some
time. The burning is empty, gone.
Speaks-Straight tilts her head. Really?
Broken Charge flicks an ear affirmatively.
Blotches sniffs lightly at Broken's chest between her forelegs. Blotches
not smell dead fire. Feels warm. Hear heart. The cub lolls her head to
look at Speaks. There -something- in there.
Speaks-Straight thought as much. Has to be burning /something/.
Blotches wolf-grins, her tail lightly thumping the ground as she brings
her gaze up to Broken. Life, will, way.
The lupus snorts, but there's a touch of thoughtfulness in her grizzled
grey expression. Perhaps that is the problem. I have not felt will,
either.
Speaks-Straight thumps her tail. No?
Broken Charge gives Speaks-Straight a long look and asks why she repeats
everything?
Speaks-Straight looks back innocently. Why do you think?
Broken Charge does not know. It is a habit some man-born have.
Speaks-Straight tilts her head curiously. So you think I'm asking out of
habit?
Broken Charge looks a little irritated. If I knew, I would not have
asked. That is a man thing, to ask when you know the answer.
Speaks-Straight tilts her head to the other side. So you think I know
the answer?
Broken Charge does not know if you know why you ask things twice. She
knows that she does not know.
Blotches peers at Speaks curiously.
Speaks-Straight presses with her questions. Care to take a guess?
Broken Charge's eyes slide away with disinterest. I do not. If you do
not know, it is useless to guess. If you do know, you are not saying.
Speaks-Straight looks sideways at BC. Would you like to know?
The theurge says she will listen if you tell.
Blotches sits up to listen as well.
Speaks-Straight wants to make sure /you/ know what you're talking about.
Broken Charge snorts. How could she say a thing unless she knew a thing?
Speaks-Straight snorts back. You only think you know some things.
Blotches blinks slowly, golden brown eyes shot with blue flicker back
and forth at the word tennis game.
Broken Charge looks at Speaks-Straight for a long moment. You are rude,
she says finally, and turns her head away.
Blotches perks up, ears forward, even a grin on black lips. Blotches
thinks you go man-places, to tribe, live, teach. Help so not happen
again to other packs. The cub gently nudges at Broken's chest again.
Fire not hot? Not mean dead. Red glow still there. The ragged tail
lightly thumps at the needle-strewn ground.
Speaks-Straight finally gets fed up with the wolf's apathy. You fury is
burning, yes. It's burning at yourself. It's too busy consuming your
heart to bother with little things like the moon, or the ~revel~, and
you're too busy feeding the fire to see it.
The lupus lips at Blotches again, starting to respond to the cub with
normal lupine responses, when Speaks-Straight growls her speech. This
time, there seems to be real effect as the halfbreed's ears flatten. I
went to the ~Revel,~ she snaps. My shift would not come. I was broken,
useless, a sight to be pited by the manborn.
Blotches' ears also lie back, but not in anger, and she lowers her
muzzle to her forepaws.
Speaks-Straight snaps at the air. Only because that's what you /wanted/.
You felt so useless so you decided to prove it to the rest of the sept
that night.
A growl trickles from Broken Charge's throat. That is not so.
Speaks-Straight stands up. It is to so, because you /like/ it. You
/like/ feeling sorry for yourself. You /like/ feeling useless. It's
why you work so hard to destroy yourself.
Broken Charge's lips are turned back from her teeth in definite threat.
Silence yourself.
Blotches whimpers softly and starts to edge back, worry beginning to
creep into her eyes, her posturing.
Speaks-Straight takes a step forward. Why? Why should I? If what you
hear hurts is because it's /true/.
Broken Charge lunges for the cub, teeth bared.
Speaks-Straight, surprisingly, doesn't make a move to dodge.
Blotches jumps to all fours, ears back, tail straight out and bristling.
She is tense, her head down, watching.
Broken Charge goes for Speaks-Straight's throat, and locks her jaws
around it with little difficulty, given that the cub made not a move
to get out of the way. A little blood trickles down from where her
teeth have grazed the skin. Submit, she growls with a mouthful of fur.
Speaks-Straight shows more of her throat, in submission. Her demeanor
changes drasticly, as well, thumping her tail gladly. I was wrong. The
fire within /can/ burn outside yoruself.
Broken Charge actually looks startled as she releases Speaks-Straight.
It's hard to stammer in lupus, but the dog's broken body posturing
emulates it. It...I feel it again.
Blotches yaps, quite the happy sound, at this. Never gone.
Broken Charge turns to Blotches. Though it would be a stretch to call
the lupus joyful, that miasma of lethargy has thinned. It was gone.
You woke my mind, and then she woke my rage.
Blotches lowers her head in respect. Do not let them fall asleep again
until you return to Gaia.
Broken Charge whuffs uncertainly. I wish to think. Can I speak with you
after sunrise?
Speaks-Straight takes a deep, cleansing breath, standing back up.
Certainly. I need the rest, myself.
Blotches flicks a nicked ear in the affirmative.
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