[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *Marcus had been speaking with Joss that evening. Just coming to see her about some questions he’d had on learning rituals, rites. Just picking the Godi’s brain, and hanging out a bit. When she mentioned she wanted to see Boy and Wendy concerning dreams Marcus offered her a ride in his pick up.*
“It’s not a problem. I was on my way there to get some tools for a job tomorrow. We can drive to the packhouse to see if they’re about. They usually are.”
[Joss Lehrer] Joss is as she always has been – smiling, helpful, and generally the goofiest godi hereabouts (…the only one too, but that’s beside the point) – and it’s with that same grin that she accepts the ride. “Thanks. I’m trying to chat with everyone about the dreams – see if we can’t pick up something solid to go after. It’s gotten ridiculous.”
And by ridiculous, she means “worrisome”.
In the pickup, she doesn’t wear a seatbelt, and sits with her legs tucked into criss-cross-applesauce. In her lap, her godi bag, a bag that clunks and clanks and generally makes people wonder wtf is in the depths of the thing. Sometimes, it’s better not to ask.
“Do you know of anyone else dreaming too?”
[Boy] She’s seen the hispo before her before, but never like this. She’s never seen it pull the lips of its muzzle back so far that it wrinkled the hackles on its back. She’s never seen how quick and easy it tears into flesh. She’s never seen it bark ferociously at a dead thing victoriously. And she’s never seen its jet black eyes focus on her in such a way, or the jet black slobber that comes as a result of the thing it had killed poisoning its body even as he killed it.
The Hispo takes a step forward, then two steps back, one to the side, and plummets to the ground with an unbelievably heavy thud. Those eyes focus on Wendy, but even in the halflight she can see the pupils struggle to stay focussed. Every inhale is a massive labor. Every exhale is a pained whine.
Downstairs, the house looks the same as it usually does. There’s a light on in the upstairs hallway, visible from the circular window. The lights are also on downstairs, particularly in the kitchen. The kitchen with the shattered window and the frayed curtain blowing in the wind.
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *As Marcus pulls up to the curb in front of the house.* “John Thornton’s been having dreams when he’s sober but… I think that’s more from grief. I don’t know. Charlie says he checked him for taint and didn’t get anything, but… Maybe you should have a conversation with him? I keep thinking there’s something I’m missing…” *He shrugs.* “I don’t know. That could just be me though.” *He gets out of the truck and starts to make his way up to the front door.*
[Wendy Berber] *A strangled sob as she tries again to get up, gritting her teeth against blood loss, sweat beading on her forehead even as she feels herself growing clammy. Poison searing through her veins like a wildfire, neck wound trickling venom. Her hand clatters on something metallic. The little snub nosed hand cannon Dietrich had gotten her, for all the good it did her. She drags herself over to Boy, reaching out to touch her mate with a wimp. Goddamnit. Her phone, THE phone.. all downstairs. She looks to the steps. Gathering her strength..*
[1 wp spent to crawl out of bedroom to Boy.]
[Joss Lehrer] She unfolds and slips from the cab of the truck with a nod. “I’ll make a point to see him. Charlie told me of another kinfolk too -Lee. Her’s saw her ending up tainted. I’ll be searching her out as well. “
She slings her bag over her shoulder, diagonal so that it hangs just behind her right hip, and she jogs a couple steps to fall into line with him up the front walk. She lifts her dreads and tosses them back over her shoulders, then tucks her hands into her pocket.
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *Marcus gets up to the front door, and goes to open it. Locked. He frowns a bit.* “Hmmmm.” *He knocks on the door.* “They usually leave it open.”
[Joss Lehrer] “In this neighborhood?” She chuckles, but waits patiently, looking around casually.
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *He looks around a bit, and spots a broken window facing the street. He shifts into Glabro.* “Broken window.” *He doesn’t wait around, not now. Waiting gets people killed. He can always apologize and fix the door later. He takes a run at the door and puts his shoulder into it.*
[Joss Lehrer] She arches a brow, slightly, as she looks at the window, then nods – stepping back out of his way so that he can get the door. She does not shift herself, not yet. These are his friends, and she lets him take the lead – he has been here before, after all.
[Boy] There’s another wheezing breath as her hand rests against his paw. He twitches slightly, about the only movement he can manage with all this pain. Those eyes settle on Wendy and immediately loose focus, lids falling heavily.
There’s another twitch at the knock on the door downstairs, and another, more violent twitch when he hears the sound of the front door shattering.
Would this night never end?
The collapsed Hispo grows tense. Its unfocused eyes looking out at nothing as it struggles to its feet. Green-black ichor still dripping from its maw. It could barely move and yet it was trying to.
Somewhere deep inside there was a consciousness that wanted to do more than just kill and destroy. A consciousness that spoke to him. Must defend it said. Must protect.
1 WP to resist pain.
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *Marcus comes through the door literally sheering it off the hinges, the wood screws sliced off in the wood, the weakest part of it giving way to over four hundred pounds of fury and muscles. The door crashes to the ground. He looks around the downstairs.*
“Boy! Wendy!” *He moves into the living room.* “Dietrich! Marrick!” *He growls out in rough voice of the Glabro form.*
[Wendy Berber] *Wendy stretches out a skinny arm, questing for the damned gun behind her with a coughing rasp of pain. There couldn’t be more. That wasn’tfair. That just wasn’t goddamn fair. She tries to stay quiet as her fingers close on the gun, before Marcus’s voice echoes in the pack house and Wendy coughs and chokes, shouting.*
Up here! Help! Please!
[Joss Lehrer] She follows a step behind. Alert, ready, as she follows him through to the living room, listening for any noise.
It’s quiet. Too quiet. Until there’s sound from upstairs… “Marcus! Hear that? Upstairs….” And she’s already moving in that direction.
[Boy] There’s not much to see there. It looks like a typical evening. The air stills smells very faintly of garlic bread and pasta sauce.
The real fight seems to be on the stairs. A splatter of blood on the top of the banister slowly drips its way down to the lower floor, and a cluster of black feathers sticks to that, some of them even wafting from the breeze of the recently destroyed door. That’s the only trace of the buzzard left.
Whoever arrives at the top of the stairs first will spot the thin black tail of something wrapping just around the corner, then the boss covered body as it grows fat, massive and covered in disturbing fungal growths, and finally the head, with the flesh just below that ripped open, nine feet or so away from the tail. The snake was massive. And so was the Hispo wolf, flashing teeth and growling angrily. A black and green ichor still drips from its mouth, and splashes onto the ground when it barks.
But then it sees Marcus. Its ears pull back and it slumps onto the ground anew, whining. Licking at its jawls. Obviously in some sort of distress.
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *Marcus shifts down to Homid again and is following behind the Godi.* “Hang on we’re coming!”
[Wendy Berber] *Wendy’s near her mate, spindly stick kin missing her glasses, blood and ichor running darkly down chicken neck from a venomous gash across her throat. Dark blue eyes flutter as the poison takes hold, her breathing becoming ragged as she slumps against the Hispo wolf, all but absorbed in fur and gore. A gun rattles against the floor as she shudders.*
[Joss Lehrer] She takes in the stairs, and takes them two at a time up to the top, following the motionless body of the thing that is dead, while hastening around to Boy and Wendy.
She lifts her hands as the Hispo growls. “Easy, Boy. It’s Joss. We’ve seen each other around.. I’m here to help. Marcus – see to him for a moment.”
She moves to Wendy first, sinking to a crouch beside her with an encouraging smile. “Hey there. I’m Joss.. we’ll get you patched up quickly ok? Then you can tell us what happened…” her voice is soothing, in control, and she sees to the kin first – Boy is stronger, can wait a moment while she takes care of his mate.
She wastes no time, either, running her fingers over the kin to find the worst of any wounds, before she simply lays her hands there, and centers herself and soon the healing warmth of Mother’s Touch flows from fingertips into the bony kin..
(Mother’s touch – int+ med = 4.. diff -2 for breath of Gaia.)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 6, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 4)
[Joss Lehrer] She takes a breath, slow and steady. “Easy, Wendy – here we go again…”
(Spending wp – and mt once more, regular diff.)
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 1, 3, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6) [WP]
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *Marcus comes over to Boy.* “It’s alright now my friend. Just relax. Everything will be alright.” *He checks Boy’s wounds to see if they are getting worse, looking for signs of poisoning.*
[Wendy Berber] *Wendy’d drifted unconscious, catching only snippets of Joss’s approach as poison dragged her toward oblivion, only to have the healing hands of a Godi coax her back conscious. She’s silent, saving her strength as Joss says her name and that healing warmth chases the ache and burn from her bloody body.*
[Joss Lehrer] She smooths back Wendy’s hair with a soft smile. “There. Don’t move yet though, we need to do a cleansing as well. I don’t like the look of that ichor.”
She turns to Marcus and lifts her chin. “We’re going to need a cleansing – of that thing too, but more importantly, that ichor looks bad – and it’s in the wounds. May need to do it more than once. I’ll see to Boy. You make sure that thing is dead and get all the pieces and parts together where we can cleanse them all at the same time. We need to get all taint from them before it sets in for good.”
She then scoots around to Boy’s head, and rests her fingers gently atop the hispo, between his ears. “Hey. I’m gonna work your healing now, alright? Wendy’s fine. You did good, protecting her like that. You ready?”
Some Godi’s have no bedside manner. She’s not one of them. given the time, she soothes as much with her voice as she does with her touch, with her gifts. She is not your ordinary Fenrir, that is for sure.
“Ready? Here we go…”
She takes a slow breath, centers herself, and lets the gift flow through her fingertips again.
MT – 4 diff temp rage of 1. Spending wp too.
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 9, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 1) [WP]
[Boy] There don’t seem to be any serious wounds on Boy. His mouth drips that black and green slime, and there are are two puncture marks on his hind leg from which a similar liquid also seeps.
Or they used to be his hind legs at least. He shifts, shedding the Hispo wolf form for the Glabro. The paw that raised to pad at Marcus is now a hand, pushing him away.
“Poison. Wyrm…poison. Not safe. Cleanse. In the room. Travis. Travis can cleanse.”
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *Marcus stands up from Boy and looks over to Joss.* “He says it’s Wyrm tainted. Poison. Do you know the cleansing rite?” *He says in a calm voice, not scared of being tainted himself.*
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] (DLP. Since Marcus is mostly useless here. Assume he stands there and helps out. I’ll stay in the scene to get the log.)
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] (If you specifically want to ask him a question just hit me on IM.)
[Wendy Berber] *Wendy’s nodding limply, eyes on Boy, thin face twisted in concern bordering on panic.*
Boy.. its ok. Its g-g-g-going to be ok.
*A hard swallow as she looks to the room. The one that was always locked. Travis, she did not think, would be helping today.*
Travis is t-taking care of g-gabbie..?
[Boy] “Travis!” He called out suddenly, finding himself able to fill his lungs without pain.
“Travis!”
He sounded like he was calling out for someone, but they were certainly the only ones in the house. The only thing that responded to Boy’s call was the loudly ticking clock downstairs. He blinked up at Joss then over to Wendy.
“Yeah. Yeah. The door’s locked. They’re safe. They’re…they’re locked in!”
And just as if he weren’t actually just about to pass out, Boy is scrambling to his feet, exiting the room and heading to a locked door at the end of the hall, fumbling with a key until he unlocked it, and disappeared behind the door.
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *Marcus nods to Joss, and starts collecting up the parts of the thing so she can perform a cleansing.*
[Joss Lehrer] She nods, and pats Boy. Her smile for Wendy is warm, reassuring. “I can do a cleansing as well. It’s ok. Just sit here with him while I get ready.”
She nods to Marcus, as he starts to gather the pieces and parts of the wyrmthing that attacked them, so that it can be cleansed all at once. Meanwhile, she digs into her bag to get her things – left blinking as boy runs off…
“Who’s Travis?” Asked quietly, while she gets out her cleansing tools and stands.
[Wendy Berber] B-brother sp-spirit. *She murmurs, staying put as instructed. Her eyes follow Boy however, squinting. Her glasses are somewhere broken at the bottom of the stairs.*
[Boy] A few moments later and the door at the end of the hall opens and locks again, and Boy comes back out, calmer now. He’s carrying something in his hands. A small, curved gourd in one hand, a dried and gnarled branch in the other. Tools for the cleansing.
But that’s not what’s immediately on his mind. He moves past Joss, nodding thankfully to her, but kneels next to Wendy. Boy leans over her, leaving a kiss on her forehead.
“Alright Wendy. Everything’s alright now.”
[Joss Lehrer] She arches a brow, slightly, curious. “I see.”
Though she doesn’t, precisely. By the time Boy has returned, she already has her supplies for the cleansing out, and has poured a small bit of pure water into her small bowl – which she cradles in one hand. She stands, and as Boy comforts his mate, she sets her willow branches to smouldering with a small lighter, and begins to walk about them, counter clockwise. She makes sure to walk around them all, even the thing, once it has been piled in the center, gesturing for Marcus to remain inside too, just in case.
The circle made, she uses another small bunch of willow branches dipped into the water to asperge all of them.
A snap shift to Crinos – and a howl that gives honor to the spirits that call her friend, to the power of the moon within her soul – she seeks to drive the wyrm from them, quaking in fear…
(Char + ritual diff 6 as per ST ruling. + WP. Don’t fuck this up, Joss.)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6) [WP]
[Wendy Berber] *Wendy moves, just enough that Boy’s ichory – possibly tainted mouth doesn’t quite brush her forehead, her hands resting on his chest instead as she she nods, blinking half blind. She watches the cleansing ritual with bleary eyed interest, shoulders sagging in exhauastion.*
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *Marcus stands off to the side but in the room, feet shoulder width apart, and arms folded across his chest as he watches Joss shift to Crinos. His face stoic, grimly serious paying respect to one of the Garou’s solemn rites to rid this place of the taint of the Wyrm.*
[Wendy Berber] *The sudden shift to crinos does get a start from Wendy, a hard swallow of nervousness as she glances to her mate in worry.*
[Boy] Boy doesn’t seem at all as woried. That had to be some kind of comfort. He’d just protected her from an evil buzzard and an even more evil snake. He wouldn’t allow this garou in now to slaughter them both, would he? no. Certainly not. He doesn’t smile down at her, but there’s a calmness in his eyes, a trust that everything would be alright now, if his eyes could be trusted.
And just like that, as the crinos circled them and enacted her ritual, the black and green slime that still streeked boy’s face turned into a perfectly acceptable shade of blood red. So did the flesh of the snake, that had been nestled among them. Instead of leaking its malevolent juices, it now bled a quite natural shade of red.
“See.” Boy said. “Everything’s fine.”
[Joss Lehrer] When the howl fades, she shifts back down to homid, and takes a breath, calming her beating heart. A ritual well performed is as good as… well. Let’s not go there.
She smiles at Boy and Wendy, and goes about putting her things back in her godi bag. “I didn’t mean to startle you, Wendy. I was more intent on getting things back to order as quickly as possible. I’ll help clean up.”
She pauses, and then.. “I came to see if you would tell me of your dreams, but we can speak another time if you are spent.” they must be tired from the battle – poor Wendy looks as if she’ll fall over at any moment…
[Wendy Berber] That.. th-thank you. Thank you so m-much. *Wendy moves towards Joss tentatively, not sure whether to hug, or shake hands.. or what, to express her overwhelming gratitude to the Godi that had healed her and Boy. She’s not thinking terribly straight either, such thanks generally better left to her mate. But the tall kin is too releived and exhausted to think, wrapping boney arms around Joss and murmuring again to the girl not much older or younger than herself.* Th-thank you mam.
[Boy] Boy tenses, but only slightly. His eyes watch Wendy closely as she moves in to hug Joss. And when she makes contact, those same eyes watch Joss even more closely.
“Yeah. Thank you, Rhya. We owe you, possibly more than we can repay.”
[Joss Lehrer] She doesn’t turn down the hug. Joss is a rather cuddly Garou, all told, which – given her tribe likely makes her all the more frightening to those who know her heritage. But she grew up in a family where hugging was as natural as fighting – and she just wraps her arms around the skinny girl and hugs her close. “It was my pleasure, Wendy. I’m glad we came when we did.”
At 18, she can sometimes seem much older than her years, having seen so very much, but when she smiles, or plays tag with elementals, it’s very clear she’s a teenage girl, who’s quite happy with her lot in life. She winks at Boy over Wendy’s shoulder, hoping to ease his tension.
“You can repay me by telling me of your dreams – if not tonight, then soon. I’m trying to speak to each individual who has dreamt of this little girl, and what happened before, during and after, in hopes of figuring out how to stop them all together.”
[Wendy Berber] *The hug given is stiff, but sincere, Wendy pulling away quickly.*
K-kay. I yeah. I left a note in the um, the brotherhood about that. Is..
*She looks over her shoulder to the teenage Uktena that was her mate, before asking shyly.*
Is tomorrow ok?
*She blinks, trying once more to make out the expression on Boy’s face through her fuzzy vision. She pads toward him, barefoot and bloodied.*
[Boy] “Then its Wendy you want to speak to.”
Come to think of it, a lot seemed to be happening around Wendy lately. When she finally comes close enough she’d likely see Boy eying her curiously now.
“Yes. Tomorrow. We’ll seek you out this time, if you prefer.”
[Joss Lehrer] She smiles and nods. “Tomorrow would be fine.” she pulls a card from the depths of her Godi bag, and leaves it on a small table. “Here’s my number, call any time. Would you like me to stay and help clean up?”
[Wendy Berber] *Wendy looks up, squinting at her mate. OH! so thats what that look had been. Curiosity. She nods to Joss about tomorrow. Lacking the oomph to do much for herself at the moment, she stoops to pick up the little gun discarded near the snake body.*
[Boy] “No. I mean thanks, but no. I think I can manage. And my packmates will be home at some point. Thanks again. And thanks to you too, Marcus. ”
[Wendy Berber] Thank you Marcus.. *She handles the gun gingerly, nervously. Offering it to Boy.*
[Marcus Schwarzkopf] *Marcus was standing back watching letting the Fostern Godi take over. She would be better at comforting Boy and Wendy, especially right now. He looks at Boy when he says his name and nods slightly to him.*
“Let me get some bags and tools out of my truck. I’ll stay and help clean up.” *He nods to Wendy and then heads out of the room.*
[Joss Lehrer] She nods, with a smile. She understands the need to take care of one’s own space and territory, and thus turns to take her leave. “Of course. I look forward to see you again.”
And with that, and a swish of the skirts, she turns and makes her way back downstairs, and to the front door – she smiles at Marcus. “I’ll let you take care of your friends. I’ll speak with them later. Thanks.”
And she makes her way out – and starts the walk to the nearest public transportation, and home.
(Thanks for the scene, ya’ll!)
[Boy] ((I think we can wrap there. Thanks for saving our butts Lessa!))
[Joss Lehrer] (My pleasure! :) )