This, however, is the first time the Modi has leveled a glare on him in sheer anger.
Be QUIET, Philodox. The totemlink blisters open. It ain’t yer place to backtalk my direct order.
[Evan] His voice came through on the link that they shared like it did when he spoke; cool, calm, measured and without deep emotion. He would not allow himself to be over come with such things.
You said you wanted council, now you will have it. You are willing to sacrifice yourself for what? An obscure answer that might not get the results we desire. What if the power of the Moon-Water-moon doesn’t work outside the bog? What if she is oath bound to Luna? What if the way to get her to come out with her power is a ritual forgotten to everyone, or takes the blood of a crotean? What if the need is the heart of a creature that lives deep in Malfeas? And your sacrifice is you never leaving this bog again? What do we gain and what do we lose?
[Silence] Tha question’s axed. We cain’t take it back; we kin only trade. She wants a sacrifice ‘n now we hafta give ‘er somethin’. She asks fer a packmate. I gotta give ‘er somethin’ jus’ as good.
[Evan] I want to know exactly what the packmate needs to sacrifice as well. That question is still plausable. As for that question, give up the memory of a former packmate, maybe my own, maybe yours. But an adren is no exchange for a Cliath. If you are sacrificed, lost, then who will run the Eagles? I am no Alpha and Ruhiger is a cub, she cannot lead. The Eagles will be done, the territory barely held out of Wyrms full grasp will fall and everthing within lost. Just for a out of left field chance to learn about a spirit that we are still unsure will aid us, coming out of the bog with a power we do not know will still work. Do not throw yourself away for something so foolish.
[Silence] There’s a long pause.
Yer counsel’s wise, Philodox, Silence admits finally, but this’s a matter’a honor. I cain’t stand by ‘n give a packmate up. I been losin’ too many packmates lately.
‘sides. He turns to eye the Raven thoughtfully. I don’t think we’re bein’ axed ta sacrifice somethin’. I think this is a test. She said she wants ta see what we’re willin’ ta sacrifice. Without doubt, without hesitation, ‘n with full knowledge that spirits is fickle ‘n might decide ta take what we offer. ‘n I think if she’s pleased with our offer, she’ll leave it a test ‘n nothin’ more.
[Evan] He did not pause when Silence spoke in return. He was not going to give in that easily because he was complimented on his duty.
And what if the willingness to sacrifice turns into an actual permanent sacrifice? Then what? You are making an assumption without any evidence to back it up. If someone offered a plan to assualt a Hive with such assumptions, would you follow it? This is not just about Honor, but about wisdom. We must think this through first.
[Silence] If we waffle she ain’t never gonna give us no answers. If we try ta shortchange her we’ll be wanderin’ in here fer tha rest’a our lives anyhow.
‘m offerin’ my axe, ‘r me. You got a better idea, let’s hear it.
[Evan] He was no Ragabash, he did not have the quickest wit. He gathered up his facts, looked over them and made decisions that way. This was too difficult to just turn on a whim.
Offer you axe, the rules state that we may substitue three times. The substitution is a good one, you have have had that axe for a long time. It is like a packmate to you, it is almost apart of you. But I will not allow you to go and throw yourself into a fools mission.
Here is where Evan pauses.
If the axe is not a good enough offer…. I will go. You are a strong leader, a great seasoned warrior and to lose a garou of your renown in such a way will hinder the efforts of the war. I am untested. If I am lost, the nation will not suffer so greatly, the Eagles will still exist and few will mourn my passing.
He thought about it, about Randi. How long he had been away from her and how by fate he was once again reunited, if not shortlived.
[Storms Eye] (I? Have to go get lunch, so like, assume I’m here but… don’t wait for me to post. *grins*)
to dead spy, Evan, Ruhiger, Silence
[Evan] (I have less than 30 more minues)
[Silence] Another pause; a long stare between the grey Crinos and the white. Then the Modi’s long muzzle swings around to Maya.
“Translate my offer to the Raven.”
[Ruhiger] She had listened to the Totemphone, listened to the discussion, and perhaps something has changed slightly in her eyes as she studies Evan. She does not voice it, however, to her pack. Instead, she returns her attention to the Raven, and Storms Eye’s translations.
[Evan] Evan’s eyes fall hard on Decker, where the anger from before was focused on him by the Adren. He could not convince him, he could not council this foolishness out of him. Even if the Raven did not want Decker exactly, but the willingness, this was still a bad idea.
He looked to Ruhiger, looking for some support, the bloody mess however did not mental voice her opinion. And as he looks to Maya, he knew there was nothing more he could do. He had openly challenged his Alpha, a grevious offense in his own mind and he slunk down after the whole conversation was over. Once again he had failed, it seems his failures were compounding upon themselves.
[Evan] (Now I must be off. I am sorry I can’t be here for the rest of the scene)
[Silence] (y’know, i really think jacqui should have the chance to decide what her char would have translated, rather than us assuming she’ll just go with what decker says to say. but in the interest of moving the scene on… maybe we can say the Raven actually understands garou-speak?)
to Evan, Ruhiger, Snowsblood, Storms Eye, Tibik-itzaniabi
[Silence] (later man, thanks for the RP!)
[Snowsblood] He couldn’t hear them, of course, the argument. Recovered from what the Raven had taken, the left side of his face a bloody mess, he turned and looked at the Eagles. “Rhya,” he said quietly, directing his voice to Silence, as he was telling Maya to translate for him.
[Silence] “What.” — even if they’d missed all the silence, the staring between the mentally conversing packmates, they can’t possibly miss the strained tone there.
[Storms Eye] (back!)
to dead spy, Evan, Ruhiger, Silence
[Silence] (quick lunch *LOL*)
to Ruhiger, Snowsblood, Storms Eye, Tibik-itzaniabi
[Snowsblood] Yes, another person to question him, but not a packmate this time. Jakob spoke levelly, though it was hard to call any voice using the High Tongue ‘calm’. There was an intensity to it, a drive behind it, but there was also – possibly – wisdom. “The Raven gave us the rules. It did not say that, when we refused one price and offered another, it had the right to reject it.”
The implication is clear: it may still. It just didn’t say, when it gave them the rules, whether or not it could.
Jakob goes on: “It may not be necessary to put yourself on the table alongside the axe.” Beat. “It may not be wise to give a spirit such as this one a choice between the two offerings.”
[Storms Eye] (tsh. I’m eating it at my desk as I work. :-P)
to Ruhiger, Silence, Snowsblood, Tibik-itzaniabi
[Silence] Silence’s jaws clench until his masseters bulge and the fringe of a ruff around his face changes shape altogether. He barks it at Maya:
“Offer the [fucking] axe. If the Raven refuses, I’ll stand in Evan’s place.”
[Snowsblood] Satisfied, Jakob lowers himself to the floor of the bog and crouches there. Silence’s reaction to being questioned did not seem to phase him, but not because he had a backbone of iron or a head of mush; frankly put, he was just relieved he hadn’t lost a limb for questioning an Adren.
[Ruhiger] Her jaw clenches briefly, the searing bite of pain through abused muscles felt and ignored. She did not argue for one reason only. She has seen that look before in the eyes of Silence. It is determination, it is stubbornness, it is Fenrir loyalty and steadfastness.
And so she listens. Still.
[Storms Eye] Maya’s eyes sweep between them — beats in rhythm with her heart.
Evan. Decker. Jakob. Back to the Modi as he delivers his demand and she bristles, turns her head and faces the Raven spirit once more.
A weapon for a warrior — she is what she says, Decker’s ever so eloquent demand finding gentler phrasing on the she-wolf’s tongue.
[Tibik-itzaniabi] “I want nothing of you – ” the bird speaks directly to Evan; the beak does not move, the sound simply resonates from somewhere it its chest cavity. ” – unworthy son of our erstwhile and equally unworthy kings. Nothing at all. There is nothing in you – blood or being – that I wish to have. This is simply a game; and it grows tiresome.”
There is a waterfall of feathers from the high branch on which the raven perches, and then the shape of the spirit is lost amidst the luminous strands of mist as it shivers and changes; the geyser of feathers – now without substance or form – pinwheels as it swims. The first hits the ground, and in place of the feather there is a toe, bare and dark brown; and so on, and so on, the fore and the hindfoot, the round ball of the ankle joint, the firm curve of a woman’s copperskinned calf, knee then, and thigh, and some shiftless interstitial garment as luminous and white and solid as the raven’s feathers; the feathers fall and fall and fall, spilling from the high branch, pirouetting in lazy circles to the ground, coalescing into the figure of a woman, small and sturdy, with dark brown skin, coal black eyes, and raven’s wing hair. She lives beyond age; but age has left some mark on the shape of her face – these details will come later: for now, the Garou find it difficult to long upon and at her, so brilliant is the white of the shapeness, nameless covering wrapped around her body, leaving her legs and arms bare.
And so: the woman (once Silence saw the sweep of a woman’s long lashes in a raven’s eye; now he sees the keen, hard kernal of the raven’s gaze beneath the sweep of the woman’s lash) steps forward, wholly silent, the muck oozing over her bare toes without ever staining them, and leans forward, bends down, wraps her fingers around the haft, and lifts the massive, fetish blade with one passingly careless hand.
“The corrupted lands under the hand of twisted creatures – ” she echoes, mimics, speaking in the high tongue now that she deigns to so do. There is something regal about her, and something deeply cruel, now. ” – is that what you call, now, the Caern you stole? Get out.”
“Get out now. And you, son-of-Fenris, you may have the axe you offered for the answer you received; but if you take it with you as you leave, I will read this as a pledge against your honor that you will not return.”
[Silence] Silence’s eyes slit against the sudden fury of the spirit-raven-woman. For an instant it seems he will do just that — turn and get out, with or without the axe he’s laid down.
Then his ears go flat against his head. He rises to all fours, baring his teeth.
“You laid the rules of this game, Spirit, and you have not played by them fairly. We have two more trades before we must leave, but maybe you should try stepping out someday. Look to the west, Spirit! There is no caern there! No Fianna, no Garou, nothing! There is a Hive that swarms with Wyrm!”
[Ruhiger] The transformation comes, and the woman she saw before has arrived, a hand around the Great Ax she has seen in action so many times. Silence steps forward, and Ruhiger stiffens, ready to shift again when necessary. If necessary.
She awaits word, with every muscle within her crying for release one way or the other. They stole nothing – they seek only to purify if it can be done. They seek information, not this game of words and pain. But she waits. Still and silent.
[Snowsblood] Snowsblood. Slowly. Stands.
[Tibik-itzaniabi] The woman’s black eyes roll back into her head, leaving them filmed in white. Still she stares; and now there is a nimbus of saturated white light leaking into the air around her, chill as the drifting mists.
“You. Lie.”
[Silence] (i think i get the story of the water walkers now! they were the original owners of the caern in the west (which is now the hive). their garou line died out and they went southwest with their caern elder, Kanekuk, and 3 of his sons/packmates. another 3 daughters/packmates stayed behind to guard the spirit.
meanwhile, the caern in the west was taken by the fianna, who were in turn overrun by the BSDs. remember mark hollingbeck’s story about the fianna running into the bog and getting swallowed, just like the BSDs that followed them? that was when the caern fell and became the hive. but apparently our crazy raven spirit has no idea!)
to Ruhiger, Snowsblood, Storms Eye
[Snowsblood] (*taps nose* I think you may have it.)
to Ruhiger, Silence, Storms Eye
[Silence] There is a confrontation building here, deep in the heart of this bog.
There is a realization in his mind, that he would share if he had time — but he doesn’t.
His focus is here, and now. The Modi draws himself upright, ears pinned, teeth bared.
“I never lie. Look for yourself.”
[Ruhiger] She faces the Raven Woman then, and while there are no words – there is a flash in her eyes that denies the lie she charges them with. They speak only truth.
[Storms Eye] Maya shifts and when she rises she is in her Homid skin — flesh and bone and dark lashed eyes that do not settle heavy with the seething tirade of Rage the Modi brings — no, Courts the Storms Eye is focused on the spirit, on her wrath, on her refusal to aid.
On her disbelief.
“He does not lie,” She echoes. “Can you not feel their presence? They are there now, tainting, feeding, destroying.” Maya paints her overvivid picture in high tongue, then in the spirit’s tongue. “Test our honor on this.”
[Snowsblood] He knows snatches of the story, what he’s gleaned in the past couple of weeks, and so he has not figured out what is blossoming in Silence’s mind. But he looks at the woman, and he…winces. Because if she doesn’t know, and they are telling her this now…
[Tibik-itzaniabi] “I know your honor, Wyrmbringer. You come speaking of peace to hide your implements of war. I know your honor, son-of-Fenris. I have heard these cries before; I believe none of them. We know how you lie; we know how you break that which will not bend to you. I say to you – as I have said to all the fools who have stumbled in your path, I will believe nothing you say without proof. This is your last chance – ”
The Relentless hits the muddied ground between Silence’s paws with a resounding reverberation.
” – to get out. Go.”
The mists close abruptly; the tree trunks evident as marching ghosts in the machine vanish into nothingness. They can still see each other – and the woman – but definition has become a tricksome thing.
[Snowsblood] Proof.
That word sticks in his mind; he doesn’t doubt it sticks for the others, as well. If she wants proof, if she has to know that the Hive is there in order to listen to them, help them, then…they’ll have to get her some p-
Shit. The mist rolls in, the edges of everything before him become fuzzy, and he blinks some blood out of his left eye to try and regain some clarity. “That’s the third time she’s told us to go.” As if that isn’t obvious. For some reason, however, that seems to mean something to him.
[Silence] Silence’s jaws snap shut on whatever protestation he had with a solid click. A beat. He stabs a black claw at the axe in the mud; his grandfather’s axe that the Godi had forged with his own handpaws, bound with his own blood and spirit, wielded as his own flesh, in the mud.
“The Relentless is my pledge that I will return. With proof.”
It’s a long hike up to the top of the hill, out of the mists. Silence turns his back to the bog and starts out. His anger leaves his cold, and his right arm feels light and naked.
[Ruhiger] She hesitates. A moment. Two. And then she turns to follow Silence – a half step behind.
[Storms Eye] A look at the great axe left in the clinging ooze, a glance at Snowsblood; and the escape of a fierce breath pushed from the raven-haired Godi’s chest. She turns and begins to trudge from the bog; bangles jangling, feet caked in grime.
[Snowsblood] He falls into step with Maya, since they’re the outsiders here, the unpacked. If he were a mortal man, he would walk sort of on his own, and she on hers, but he gravitates towards the others of his kind even when his mind is on other things. Like proof, and water-women, and dead girls.
Yes. And that.
[Silence] At the top of the hill, Silence pauses, but not to catch his breath. He sheds his warskin. In his human form, in his human clothes, his right arm looks shockingly bare, the pervasive black jags and spikes of the tattoo gone.
“This’s what I figger,” he says. “Mark Hollin’beck down in Mexico — Spiral kin, son’a tha dead Hive Elder — said somethin’ ’bout tha bog swallowin’ Fianna after tha fall’a the Caern as well as tha Dancers that chased ’em there. I think he was talkin’ about the Hive. I think tha Fianna usedta own the Caern that became a Hive; ‘n I think tha Fianna took it from these water-walker people that Kanekuk led away when their bloodlines thinned. Kanekuk left his daughters, ‘r packmates, ‘r whatever. I think they became these spirits. Tha Raven, ‘n the Frog, ‘n the Snake.
“Seems to me tha Raven ‘n this moon water woman ain’t got no clue that even tha Fianna is gone now. So let’s do what she said, ‘n bring her proof.”
[Ruhiger] She listens (Please, this is not a surprise) and brows furrow slightly as she does so. It sounds plausible with what she has learned, had seen before, and what they have just witnessed. The only question that remains really is murmured across Eagles wings. And what proof might they accept if they will not leave to see on their own?
[Snowsblood] Jakob’s shift is a gradual thing, but there’s no point when he loses a certain ferality of motion. To glabro, to homid, he retains some element of the weirdness even other Garou see in their crinos forms. It is not human, it is not wolf, it is something deeply spirit and deeply monstrous. Jakob, even when he is a man again with blood on his cheek instead of his snout, does not quite seem like he’s fully anything – man, wolf, Garou.
His hand twitches, wanting to rub at his left eye, the carved-out ache of his now-missing duct, but he refuses to allow his fingers to fly there. “Something that was there before, that she might know, that’s twisted now,” he mutters, mostly to himself. He’s thinking aloud; he expects to be ignored while he murmurs.
[Silence] “I don’t think she can leave.” Silence says, simply.
He glances at Jakob as the Skald murmurs to himself. And then he looks at AM, sharply. “That church in yer vision. Any chance it was in Moraine Hills? Any chance you was seein’ tha Fianna attack, ‘fore tha Caern was a Hive?”
[Ruhiger] Brows furrow deeper as she searches the vision, her memory of it, and the vagueness of what it could have been. Maybe – I think I would recognize it if I saw it, but it revolved around the sacrifice – I think – the glimpse I received. I.. She falters, and shakes her head. She is hard on herself – harder then all others. I am sorry. I’m not sure.
[Silence] Write, a simple reminder. They cain’t hear ya.
In either case, the shake of her head is clear enough this time. Silence lapses into — well, silence. A few more yards through the muck. Then, for the benefit of the newcomers, “Near tha Hive there’s a l’il town. Real Stepford-like. Real perfect on tha surface, rotten to tha core. ‘s called Moraine Hills, ‘n there’s a church there, tha one last holdout that ain’t tainted. It looks real fancy ‘n modern in tha realmside, but if ya go umbral, it looks different. Old-fashioned, whitewashed. Sounds a l’il like tha church AnneMarie saw in her vision, when she saw tha last’a the Water Walkers.
“If tha Water Walkers knew that church, then we might be able ta find somethin’ there. Somethin’ they’d recognized, that’s twisted.
“That’s where we’ll begin.”
[Snowsblood] He can figure out that the two bonded packmates are conversing; he’s gotten used to the long glances or faraway moments, but he has no idea what Ruhiger might be saying. He hears Silence’s side of the conversation, tries to pay attention and think on his own at the same time, and then looks up when he hears the word ‘twisted’ repeated back, out of Decker’s mouth.
That’s the only reaction he gives. Then a pause…and a nod. “When do we go?”
[Storms Eye] “I agree with Snowsblood,” She is quiet, leaning on her heels, her face carved from something close to exhaustion, pale while her lips remain faintly rose, slashed with a considering line of thought. “It must be something she can recognise, something she can not dismiss, she will not accept our honor, but perhaps if something could be coaxed to speak.”
She talks as much aloud for her own benefit, as for the others around her, raising her face to hear Silence’s offering, watching through a fall of hair into her vision, black strands blinked into black lashes.
[Silence] (i’ma hold off and give everyone else a chance to post *LOL*)
to Ruhiger, Snowsblood, Storms Eye
[Storms Eye] (gah, sorry. *grins* it’s busy here.)
to Ruhiger, Silence, Snowsblood
[Ruhiger] Write, he reminds her, and she nods, once. She had forgotten, and her hand lifts to slide through her hair, then to fall back again. Her reply to the rest is a nod again – Storms Eye and SnowsBlood ask when, and she awaits that answer.
[Silence] Something she will recognize.
Something that could be coaxed to speak.
“Somethin’ we kin Awaken, maybe.” The anger is cooling. The loss of the fetish, the gaping hole torn quite literally out of his spirit, doesn’t ache so much when there’s something else to focus on. There’s a quick glint in his eye, a gleam in the grey. “Tamorrow. We go tamorrow.”
[Silence] (annnd, that’s a wrap?)
to Ruhiger, Snowsblood, Storms Eye, Tibik-itzaniabi
[Snowsblood] (Sounds like a wrap. And thank you, Liz.)
to Ruhiger, Silence, Storms Eye, Tibik-itzaniabi
[Silence] (thanks for the great RP, all! and thanks a ton for the awesome STing, liz.)
to Ruhiger, Snowsblood, Storms Eye, Tibik-itzaniabi
[Storms Eye] (yes, kudos to Liz! and thanks all! *beams* and, sorry for work slowness and all that.)
to Ruhiger, Silence, Snowsblood, Tibik-itzaniabi
[Ruhiger] (Ayup – cept one thing.. do Tongue’s grow back? *LOL* and what’s the actual damage level and when shall she be all better. *Grin*
And thanks Liz – you were awesome, as usual!)
to Silence, Snowsblood, Storms Eye, Tibik-itzaniabi
[Silence] (OK, i know decker said “tomorrow”, but what he meant was, “whenever we’re all together again”. so, back to the forums for planning *LOL*)
to Ruhiger, Snowsblood, Storms Eye, Tibik-itzaniabi
[Tibik-itzaniabi] Jakob – 2 agg; Ruhiger – 3 agg. The stolen stuff grows back.
to Ruhiger, Silence, Snowsblood, Storms Eye
[Ruhiger] (thanks!)
to Tibik-itzaniabi