[Max] For all the good leadership qualities that Max might be said to possess, patience was not yet terribly high on the list. He was young, after all, and a full moon, and his tribe had not taught him to be anything other than strong and fearless. Then again, a direct approach was sometimes precisely what was required. It all really depended on the situation, and one’s point of view. Regardless, it can’t have come as too great a surprise to either of the Gnawers when Max put out the word to meet him on caern grounds. He didn’t know where either Marni or Indira lived, so he’d settled for wandering through the neighborhoods that he’d initially met them in and leaving the message with various kinfolk. Rat’s kin stuck together. He knew that from experience. One had to imagine that eventually, word would get to the place it needed to go, if one talked to enough people.
Now the big Modi waited by the lake, umbral-side. He was standing at the shore, occasionally pacing back and forth as he looked out over the silvered surface of the water. It was calmer here. More… reflective.
[Indira] Indira does not have far to go. The Ahroun’s quarters are within the Brotherhood, and her rooms are a short Umbral jaunt to the Caern. She arrives in the Umbra, hands shoved in the pockets of the black hoodie that she has thrown over her other shirts.
Her normally heavy footsteps are quieter here. And, upon sighting Max, she quickens her step, meeting him at the edge of the silvered water. “Hey, man,” she says when she reaches him. “What’s up?”
[Marni] Marni gets the message, one way or the other, as she makes her way through the city. A brow quirks, and there’s a grin, and she makes her way toward the Caern to meet the Fenrir that promised her a wrestling match… complete with “accidental” groping.
She arrives a while after Indira, having had a longer way to go, and she bumps Max’s arm with her shoulder as she walks by and joins them. “Evenin…”
[Max] Indira was the first to arrive, and Max looked up when he heard her footsteps, grinning in that pleased and slightly cocky way that he often had a habit of doing. “What’s up is… we got stuff to talk about, you and I. And Marni, if she gets my message. Wasn’t sure if you both would show, but figured I’d try, anyway, cause I’m not much of one for waitin’ around when I could be doing something.”
And speak of the devil…
(so she shall appear)
The Ragabash approached their little group, leaning in to bump against the Modi playfully. He didn’t seem to mind. Rather, he looked down and, almost like a big brother might do to a sister, reached out to ruffle Marni’s hair with his hand, messing it up just enough to be slightly annoying. “Hey train-surfer. You made it!” And that meant… it was time to get down to business and say what he had to say.
“Alright, so I’ve been poking my nose around the city, and… I like you. Both of you. Cause you’re not a bunch of pretentious whiners like some of the other garou. And I think maybe we could get some shit accomplished, if we worked together. I know maybe you’re not sure what to think of me, being what I am and all, and frankly, I’m not sure what to think of packing with a couple of Rat’s kin either… but… I got a feeling. And I usually listen to my gut, cause it knows what it’s talking about.”
This was probably the most he’d talked all at once in quite some time, but when Max had something to say… he said it.
“So I thought I’d ask you down here and see if I can’t convince you to be my new pack-sisters. I know we talked about it before, so now I’m askin’ for real.”
[Indira] The Ahroun gives a big, friendly grin at Marni as she shows up. She hadn’t known whether Max even knew the Ragabash, and up until now had not really considered the possibility of a pack, but it’s clear that she’s happy about the idea now that they are all here together.
Indira listens to what Max has to say. She folds her arms, bows her head slightly forward, and then raises it toward the end to look straight at him, watching him.
“I like you too, Max. But…an’ this is some a the same shit I said before, I know…I’m lookin’ for some things in a pack already, an’ I wanna make sure that I get that if I join up with you guys. Helpin’ the city an’ buildin’ stuff, not tearin’ it down or goin’ out seeking Glory ta better ourselves. ‘Cause that’s what I promised Gaia, an’ that’s what I promised Maelstrom, an’ a promise is a promise.”
She roughs a hand through her pink hair, leaving it standing on end before adding, “I wanna know that you’re gonna be able ta help me with those things, if I’m gonna follow you as my Alpha, y’know?”
[Marni] She grins at Indira, and then wrinkles her nose as Max tousles her curls, slapping playfully at his hand though it’s clear she doesn’t mind – not like it makes much difference anyway, the corkscrew curls fall back into place all on their own. She tips her head and listens to Max, and then grins up at him.
“S’the best offer I’ve had yet. Sides – with two of us, I’m sure we can keep you in line if you get all RARMEFENRIR on us…” a beat, and then… “Who you thinkin’ a followin, and what type of shit you feel we’re best suited to accomplish?”
Good lil Raggie – always with the questions – which, unsurprisingly fall into the same realm as the Ahroun’s questions too.
[Marni] .
to Marni
[Max] The Gnawers asked their questions, and they were the kinds of questions that one would expect, in this situation. Questions that they had every right to be curious about. Choosing a pack was a big decision, and even if Max was the type of garou to rush headlong into something once he’d made up his mind to do so, that didn’t mean that everyone else was to be expected to comply. Still, the note in the air was a hopeful one, and the words that Max had said to Lila in this exact same place a few weeks ago came back to him now.
Wolves aren’t meant to be alone.
Maybe, despite all of Max’s bristle and strength; despite his unending quest for Glory… he’d picked his pack-mates based not on Fenrir ideals of war, but because they might, if given the chance, be something like a family. The Modi listened to what the girls had to say, and he snorted with amusement when Marni suggested they might keep him in line if he got out of hand.
“We all want our own things. But, I think we want the same things too, so maybe, in all of that, we can find something to keep us together. The way I see it, there’s a lot of nasty stuff out there that needs killing, and most of the garou around here got their heads stuck too far up their asses to do much more than bicker and occasionally kill some fomori that they happen to stumble across. I ain’t like that. I’m not about politics. My job is to protect things. It’s about the only thing I really know how to do. So I say… let me do that. Let me stand in front of everyone that can’t protect themselves. I sure as hell won’t go down without a fight. And… Hell, if we build something worth protecting? Then all the better, right? I’ll help you, if you help me. And maybe we can actually make shit a little better.”
After a pause, he turned to Marni, to add, with a smirk. “Oh, and if we ever stop having fun? You damn well better remind us what we’re missin’, girl.”
She’d asked about totems, as well, and Max had to put some thought into that one. He reached up to scratch his chin briefly, feeling the roughness of a day’s stubble beneath his fingertips. “I used to follow Wolverine. But uh… he just ain’t right, for you two. I guess this time around, maybe something a little less… nuts. But I won’t follow a totem that isn’t strong. Just can’t respect it. No use for it otherwise. I figure maybe we can see the Ritemistress, and let the fates decide. See what picks us.”
[Indira] Indira listens to what Max has to say about building, about protecting, and a spark comes into other Ahroun’s eyes. Not of Rage, but something that’s inspired, something that wants to believe in what Max is saying and hopes that he believes it too. “Yeah, that’s…exactly what I’m lookin’ for,” she tells Max. “Like…protectin’ the Sept an’ the people that can’t help themselves. An’ all that shit. An’ I don’t wanna be like some a the others that ain’t doin’ anything for the city, y’know? The ones that’re jus’ worried about how they look ta the Nation.”
And then a sidelong glance at Marni, because the other girl mentioned totems and Max has his own input on that. “Well, talkin’ ta the Ritesmistress soun’s like a good idea. I ain’t ever been packed under anything before, so I don’t know what’d be good for me. Us, I guess. Or what’d want me.”
[Marni] She listens to Max, and laughs outright “Oh trust me, I’m ALL about the fun havin… I’ll drag ya’ll surfin every damn day if I have too!”
To the rest, she nods, and then grins at Indira. “I can get behind that. I’m not a glory hound myself – I’m to cute to die! – but something cunning, respectful, and I’m all for building something important. It sounds good to me.”
Not a glory hound – but a daredevil? You betcha…
[Max] Max… well, he was a glory hound. And he likely always would be. But if you gave him a decent cause to stick up for, he was more than happy to earn his name by doing something worth remembering for reasons other than pure battle-prowess. Somewhere along the line, someone in his past had planted the seed of something which ran in counterpoint to his tribal teachings, and for all that Max was, undoubtedly, Fenrir (his blood sang it, and his fangs insisted upon it), his heart, and his perspective, were something entirely his own. And he was only just now beginning to grow into that person.
Things changed. People changed. Even… a Modi.
Suddenly, Max grabbed both of the Gnawers, one in each arm, and pulled them into a ferocious bear-hug. Then he stepped back and jumped into the air, and his body snapped instantly into the form of a huge, silver-coated dire wolf. Paws hit the ground where feet had been moments before, and he lifted his head to howl his excitement to the umbral skies. It was a deep, challenging song. Something that echoed with the ancient strength of his ancestors. I dare you, he said to the fates. I dare you to topple me. To topple us. We will take everything you have to give.
Maybe that was just wishful thinking. But it was an inspiring sentiment, nonetheless.
He looked at his two companions. Sisters-to-be. And he grinned wolfishly, then he gestured in the direction of the caern. Let’s go.
[Indira] Indira grew up being led by other people, continually doing what was expected of her, and for a while nothing made her angrier than when her brother began to ask more of her. So perhaps she isn’t ready to begin asking more of someone else, when she herself is only just beginning to understand her purpose here. Why she’s in Chicago, why she made that vow to Maelstrom.
But people change, and they’re constantly called upon to do things that they aren’t yet ready for. She’s ready.
Max grabs them both up into a bear hug and Indira laughs and sweeps them both up into her arms too until they’re a tangle of strong Garou arms, and then follows Max’s lead, transforming herself into a wiry direwolf. Fur a mottled brown, shot through with many different colors: white on the paws, grey through her back and bright streaks of a rich reddish brown.
And, taking up his howl, she dashes after him toward the Caern, trusting that Marni will follow.
[Marni] People change, people grow – it’s one thing that Marni hs always believed, and always strove to teach others. You don’t have to do exactly what’s expected – it’s much like her riding on top of a bus instead of inside it. It’s unexpected, and if you learn to look in those unexpected places – there’s no telling what you may find…
Like a Fenrir scooping up two Gnawers into a hug. She flows against him easily enough, and as she promised him weeks ago – she even drops a hand to grab his ass, before slapping it soundly. He leaps, and shifts, and dares the fate of the world to topple him, to topple them, and she follows their lead and shifts into hispo as well, her backpack melting into her form as she does so, becoming just a strap across her shoulders as she leaps after them – bringing up the rear…
[Max] [And there was much rejoicing!]