"Maybe she just doesn't /like/ Cheerios."

[renferret]

X "meets" the new Fury cub, then stops the new Fury cub from becoming meat. Later, she's generally unfriendly to everyone, and then has a sort-of conversation with Silvertip.


Petra can be found sitting by a tree near Edgewood, her back propped against the trunk as she just gazes out at the surrounding land, her expression difficult to read. There's a book next to her, one she was reading before the light faded enough to make it inconvenient. It's titled 'The Distant Hours'.

It is too damn hot for Arctic wolves. Pity the poor creature that hasn't blown their winter coat yet, and has to deal with the warm weather of the day. Little Silvertip pants lightly as she goes, tail all but dragging behind her as meanders her way along. Periodically she pauses to sniff at this or that, like she's looking for something. Eventually, though, the unfamiliar smell catches her attention. Lowering her posture, the Uktena starts to follow the scent to its source, body language cautious but her eyes curious.

Petra finds sensible places to sit. X, not sensible, isn't necessarily easy to spot, because somehow, in some way, she's on Edgewood's rooftop, at the very peak. She's lying on her stomach, with her fingers lightly braced against the shingles for balance. To all appearances, the Fury Ragabash is spying on the Fury reader, or at least that general area of the meadow.

Petra doesn't appear to have noticed the roof-perched X. She does, however, notice the white wolf. Her eyes widen slightly, and she slowly starts to stand up, taking the book with her, as if that might somehow help her as she watches the other creature's approach.

Little Silvertip pauses when she's spotted, the white wolf staying where she is in the shrubs. Her nose raises as she takes a few sniffs at the air, like testing the water. She then looks at the cub with the same sort of gaze that one could imagine her sizing up an elk with. Kin? She wonders, before taking a few more sniffs.

Rogue splays her fingers even further against the roof's shingles, and sloowly eases herself forward, so that her head is actually past the edge of the roof. She's now clearly intent on the other two Garou, any other lookouts abandoned.

Petra remains still, looking clearly intimidated, and there's a glance toward the house, as if she might get help from there. She then takes in a breath, to calm herself. "Um, hi? You're a good wolf, right?" she asks slowly, offering an open palm toward him. "I'm a friend. Garou? Petra. Ragabash and Black Fury cub. Please don't bite me."

Little Silvertip takes a moment to take that in, her ears flickering at the words 'cub.' Little Silvertip doesn't take any more steps forward, though, remaining where she is. There's a few moments, where she considers what to do next. This one is a wolf shape changer, she finally decides on telling the other. She's going to go sniff at newcub. Learn Newcub's smell. Not bite.

Petra frowns at him for a moment, watching his moments, and then her brows lift. "Well. You don't seem aggressive. Mom mentioned a lot of teeth and hair standing up when the wolves were angry." As for Petra, she seems content to stand just where she is by that tree.

Little Silvertip slips forward, keeping her head at a neutral height as she does. The wolf goes up to Petra, watching /her/ like she might bite her, as she goes up to give the cub a thorough sniff. She starts at the knees and hands, but quickly transitions to sniffing at the other's more personal front and backsides. Her own tail flags high, like the other might want to reciprocate in the nasal investigations.

Charlene turns off Sunrise road and onto the house's hard-packed dirt driveway.

Charlene has arrived.

"O/kay/," says Petra, her brows lifting more, and she squirms just a little as Silvertip does that sniffing. "That's not awkward at all... So, an all white wolf... You could still be from about half the tribes, huh?"

Little Silvertip does her wolf-esque business, taking in the other's scent. Eventually, the arctic wolf circles around her, coming back to the front where she can stand a comfortable distance away from the cub. Her posture, though not pushy, is dominant and sure. This one is Little Silvertip who Mauls the Horned Serpent. Little Silvertip who Slays Carnage-Ikthya and his mate, Eclipse-Ikthya. Little Silvertip who Brings Back Light's Gift to the Wolf People. Fourth ranked warrior of Uktena's tribe. Adopted pup of Driftwood Dances... Sister of Tempest's Wake, cousin to the Storm of the North. Her introduction comes easily, and automatically, except for that last sentence, where she seems to have to think about something.

There's movement in the woods, someone is traveling along the path toward the meadow.

From Sunrise Road, a motorcycle with a sidecar turns down the driveway. Mounted comfortably on the seat is a cowboy-hat clad woman that wouldn't look out of place in a 1970's outlaw country film. Seeing the group (specifically Silvertip, being all white and shiny) standing there, she kills the engine and coasts to a stop within listening distance, getting off and heading over.

Petra watches as that intro is given with an expression that shows she's clearly not getting all of it. At the end of it, she gives him an apologetic smile. "That sounded really cool, and it was totally lost on me... I got that you've taken down some bad guys, which is awesome. Honored to meet you, of course." She glances toward the driveway as she hears that motorcycle, a hint of relief in her expression.

Little Silvertip looks a little irritated at that - more than a little. The wolf tries to shake that out of her posture, but some of the annoyance clings to her. Cub is very very new, she surmizes. Then, like she's making a great sacrifice (go on without me guys!) she reluctantly takes Homid. The Uktena remains crouched, reaching up to scratch at her face. "Ciuraq Aketachunak. Fourth ranked warrior of Uktena's tribe. Little Silvertip Mauls the Horned Serpent. Little Silvertip who Slays Carnage-Ikthya and his mate, Eclipse-Ikthya. Little Silvertip who Brings Back Light's Gift to the Wolf People. Adopted pup of Driftwood Dances, sister of Tempest's Wake, cousin to the Storm of the North." She says, in somewhat efficient English. There definitely an odd spin on some of her words, though.

Boots crunching on the gravel, the cowgirl approaches the group, looking from Silvertip (who gets a smile, a nod, and, yes, a showing of throat - just because), to the new person she's never met, she waits for Silvertip to finish before adding her own. "Charlene Song-of-Vengeance, Fostern Galliard of the Black Furies, packed under Otter. Hello." She smiles. "Who might you be?"

Duke appears at the edge of the meadow, apparently the one who was approaching along the path. He stops, just within sight, and watches the others in silence.

X, way up on Edgewood's roof (on her stomach for some reason, with her head hanging slightly off), narrows her eyes faintly as she watches.

Petra blinks as Silvertip changes, watching curiously. That nervous smile remains, right around until he says 'Mauls the Horned Serpent', and then Petra's jaw just drops. "I heard that story!" she blurts out. "Only... Um... My mom told it a little different," she adds with a frown. Her attention turns to Charlene, then, and she grins. "And you'd be like my mom... I'm a Fury, daughter of a Galliard. Petra Harris, Ragabash cub."

Ciuraq glances to Charlene as she arrives, giving the Galliard a terse nod. The fury cub gets a questioning gaze, her head tilting slightly to the side. "Qaa?" The Uktena asks, questioningly. "How, uh, diff... different?"

"Well!" Charlene positively beams at that information, walking in a circle to look Petra over, nodding. "I'm sure your mom has told you /lots/ of stories, then. I probably wasn't in any of them, of course, but I won't hold that against her." A bit of gentle teasing from the Galliard. "All good I'm sure, Ciuraq-rhya. Sometimes stories do get embellished a little during the retelling."

Ciuraq glances to Charlene as she arrives, giving the Galliard a terse nod. The fury cub gets a questioning gaze, her head tilting slightly to the side.

The young Get of Fenris walks along the edge of the meadow, keeping to the treeline as he watches the others. When he's able to catch Petra's gaze, he gives her a nod and a quick grin, but he doesn't seem inclined to approach.

"She sure did," says Petra with a smirk. "She just neglected to tell me they were /true/ before she left." She catches that sight of Duke, offering him a quick, friendly grin in turn before she looks back to Silvertip. "Yeah, not /bad/, just... I thought I remember her referring to Little- Well, to you, as a male."

"Ciu.." Ciuraq starts to correct Charlene's pronunciation of her name, before the cub stops her dead in her tracks. The Uktena's expression is difficult to read, at best. There's a few beats, before she replies, "Ii-i." Another beat passes, before she adds, with a tense tone, "I, eh, see that... that is um. Confus - confusing."

"Petra, that's a story for another time, but I can assure you that this is Little Silvertip who Mauls the Horned Serpent." Charlene explains, nodding to Ciuraq. "Working on the pronunciation. Getting that last part in the back of the throat is getting me, what with my accent and all." she offers as an explanation.

Duke's head tips to the side as he listens, one eyebrow rising in curiosity. Though the draws no closer, he continues to travel the edge of the meadow, changing perspectives on the scene, perhaps.

"Right, well, again, good to meet you both," offers Petra. "Melodie just brought me here Saturday, so it's been a long, crazy weekend. We have a ranch not too far from here. She's going to talk with someone about how we can keep it."

Ciuraq's brow raises and falls, before the Uktena takes a step back, falling silent. A few moments later, she's right back in lupus, looking between the cub and the forstern.

"It probably will take some getting used to, watching people pop in and out of forms like that, but trust me, given a little time, you'll be doing it just as easily as she did there." Charlene replies to Petra. "I'll need to get the story of your first change from Melodie, then. I like knowing where our cubs come from."

Duke watches the Uktena return to lupus, and finally takes a few steps from the treeline. His course takes him not toward the others, but more in the direction of his tent, though even that is a significant closing of the distance.

X sticks out her tongue, not that anyone is likely to see it.

Petra offers Silvertip a smile as he changes again, still seeming a little mystified, either by the change or the fact that he's /real/. "All of this will take some getting used to," she responds. "My change didn't exactly make for a great story," she adds with a wrinkle of her nose, glancing away from them and toward Duke as she rubs her arm.

Little Silvertip turns as the arctic wolf starts to slip out of the area. She pauses momentarily when she sees Duke heading for his tent. Sniffing at the air a few times, she soon-after catches the scent of X, and looks her direction too. When she resumes her departure, she goes orthogonal to the pair of them, heading for the least interrupted line into the forest. She pants a bit from the heat, as she goes.

X clearly watches Silvertip in return as she exits, though there's no other gesture from her. No waving. But no sticking out her tongue either.

"with your mother being a Galliard, you should know that even the smallest things sometimes have the makings of a great story. My firsting had me stuffed in the trunk of a car before I changed and then, when I did, kicked the entire thing out before getting wolfpiled by a few folk who were in the area." Charlene grins, watching Silvertip meander off into the forest, turning her attention to the Get cub heading to the tent and, yes, even X on the roof thanks to Silvertip's attention. "Hey there, Ex." Charlene calls. "Come meet our new sister if you haven't already."

Duke stops at his tent and pulls off his jacket. He takes a moment to unzip the flap and toss the coat within, and then finally heads toward Petra. His gaze ticks upward to the rooftop and he grins when he spots X, relaxing a bit further now that the Uktena is gone.

Petra chuckles. "That'd be an amusing site. ...Aside from the dangerous werewolf on the loose. I /did/ break some dining chairs. And, ah, yeah. It wasn't pretty. Then Melodie and Emma came along, and I held them at gunpoint until they did some sense-talking. - Hey, Duke, look, I found more tribe." She peers up at X, then, blinking as she finally spots the other girl. "That the X you said was cool?" she mutters to Duke.

Petra: Er, Sight.

X moves her hands from out to her sides to under her chest, and hops lightly to her feet, completely uncaring about what a precarious perch the peak of a roof is. And then, without a single blink of hesitation, she spreads her arms out and takes a running leap right off of the highest part of the roof. There's a few terrifying seconds of her being in the air, but when she lands it's with her body loose, rolling just so...and in crinos. The black furred, scarred monstrocity comes up in a crouch, teeth faintly bared.

Charlene watches the leap, the landing, the shifting, all with a faint grin, thumbs looped under her belt before turning to Petra. "Caught you before you went all fuzzy. That's good. Your kinfetch did what it was supposed to do. For Garou like me, mine got lost or wasn't attached right, so it was complete surprise to everyone when I went off in the middle of a park."

Duke nods to Petra, grinning as X makes her leap. "Hey," he calls to the ragabash when she lands. Then he shifts his focus to Charlene, and his lips twist in a faint frown.

"What the- Did you-" Petra points toward X before looking toward Duke, seeming perplexed that that /happened/, and that everyone else seems used to it. "She just /jumped/ off of the- How high is that? Can /I/ do that? Once I can shift? Holy shit." And that completely distracts her from First Changes, for now.

Rogue shrinks slowly back down to homid, but a little of the teeth baring remains for a moment longer before she stands up and stalks--no other word can accurately describe her stride--toward the others. "Hey." Her voice is flat, toneless. Tense. Her eyes, far too bright, flick from Duke to Charlene, and then more slowly over Petra, clearly studying the new cub far more thoroughly.

"Yep." Charlene says with a nod to Petra, one hand lifting to rest on the cub's shoulder. "Shift through the forms, take more punishment than you can imagine and come back, swinging for more. See and talk to spirits, go to the spirit world, even, when the moon is right. Make your own stories to be told. We'll all help you - the Furies."

Duke starts to say something to X, but Charlene distracts him and his shoulders tense. He rolls them back, trying to shift the tension from them, and then starts walking toward the cliath. "I'm a Get a Fenris, now," he tells her when he nears.

"But we like him anyways," notes Petra after Duke's words. "That was a cool move," she adds to X. "I'd probably break my arm trying it. - What's the moon have to do with it? That make it easier to enter?" That last is apparently to Charlene, as Petra gives her a sideways look.

"Your arm un-breaks." This, too, is delivered in that flat, toneless voice, and just to be helpful, X looks toward one of Petra's arms when she says it. "I'm X. They make you say your name and number around here. X. Rogue sometimes. Cliath. Ragabash. Black Fury."

"You might break your arm, sure, but just shift to a different form, hold it straight and then in a few seconds, good as new. One of the perks of being Gaia's Chosen. And we don't make you say it, Ex....it's just polite to introduce yourself to new people. Call it the niceties of Garou Society." Then, to Petra. "Yes and no. The spirit world is lit by the moon, just like the world we're in now is lit by the sun. No moon in the sky? Dark as a mineshaft at midnight in the spirit world and not very safe to go tromping around. except in other specific situations."

"Yes you do," Duke says, turning back to Charlene, a frown tugging at his lips, again. "And everyone gets mad if you don't say it right, or you don't know parts of it. And they threaten to kill you if you get it wrong."

"Apparently some people are sticklers," says Petra, glancing toward Duke. "Anyways, I'm Petra Harris, Ragabash Black Fury Cub. No deed names yet. My sister is with a Nadine, too, she's kin. Only twelve, so don't scare her too much if you see her."

"They don't make you," X says, still flat, still toneless. "They just hurt you if you don't." Her eyebrows move very faintly at the description of family, but she offers no remark to it.

"Everyone, Duke?" Charlene says to the Get. "Really?" She sighs and shakes her head, looking to Ex, nearly saying something but not, instead turning to Petra. "It's best to keep those you love at arms length unless the moon is tiny. You bein' a Raggie means that no moon is your moon, so you may find yourself getting a little tense when the moon's not there. But speaking for myself, I'm not planning to scare anyone's sister when I see 'em. Ain't polite."

Duke rolls his shoulders in a shrug, but the frown fades as he turns back to X. "Thomas and I went hunting for a while. Not really for monsters, but just to get away from here. It was good."

"I would never hurt Niki," says Petra. "I don't care what the moon looks like. Anyone that hurts /her/, though, is fair game. ...But I agree I gotta learn to control the shifting first," she adds with a frown. She looks over at Duke. "Catch anything?"

"Everyone," X replies to Charlene, without a single flicker of her expression. She does look to Duke as he speaks, but Petra's the one that does the talking.

"Whatever." Charlene dismisses X's comment with a wave of her hand. "You and I need to talk sometime soon. I wasn't around for your bein' a cub, and I wasn't around for your riting, so I'm gonna figure out who or what the hell pissed in your Cheerios." Charlene's hackles are raising just a little bit before she pushes that down and turns her attention back to Petra. "Things like that ain't our choice a lot of the time. Gaia's put a fire in our bellies that sometimes threatens to burn its way out and, if we don't hold it down, it might break out and then bad things happen. We'll get you comfortable with shifting first. Baby steps. Shifting, then Litany, then all the lessons you'll need."

Duke grins at X when her words support his prior statement and his posture straightens just a bit. He looks as though he might be about to answer Petra when Charlene speaks again and he turns to face her, instead. His lips press tight together, as though fighting to keep his thoughts from being given voice.

"Maybe she just doesn't /like/ Cheerios," suggests Petra, frowning a bit more as everyone seems to get tenser. "From the stories I've heard, Garou can have some glorious times, some fun times, but their lives really can /suck/, too. I'm sure not gonna fault one for lacking cheer. ...Just... the new girl's two-cents," she adds, shrinking back against the tree a little.

X's gaze moves back to Charlene. Once again, her expression remains stony and generally unreadable, and there's no real movement from her at all, but this time she doesn't look away from the Galliard. In fact, while the stare isn't challenging in any noticeable fashion, it certainly lingers. "...Talk about what?" The words come eventually, but it's a long, long silence from her before they do.

"Figure of speech, Petra." Charlene says, her voice calm, physically moving in between the cub and Ex, not taking her eyes off of the other. "Just you. Your history. Your everything. I don't know anything about you /at all/ and we're in the same tribe. Only thing I do know is that you hang out with Moros pretty much all the time, and I don't know anything about him either other than he's big, he's a fury, and he's fostern." Charlene clicks off the three things she knows. "I guess I got out of bein' a cub lucky. I never got hit for messing up the litany, or my name, or my deeds, or not knowing anything. I was a cub and that was expected. Ignorance isn't something that deserves getting beaten for." Charlene looks to Duke. "Who, might I ask, got mad when you didn't say your name right or didn't know something? Probably one of the more native tribes? Jacinta-rhya, maybe? Silvertip-rhya? Certainly not any of the urrah tribes. Hell, I'm guessing it's either the Wendigo or Uktena." The Fury throws her hands up in frustration. "For fucks sake, I still walk on tiptoe around some folk because they're so ensconced in their beliefs and their honor that if you say the wrong thing, you'll get yelled at. That shit ain't right. It's not. And you shouldn't have had to deal with that. Bein' Garou is tough enough without all sorts of other stuff piled on top."

And then, in frustration, Charlene stomps and then kind of....well...blinks. One second she's there...the next....not....and the next...right back.

X continues staring throughout Charlene's talking. For her part, there's no visible change; not, at least, until Charlene suddenly turns and stomps off, then vanishes. The perceptive might suddenly notice that her jaw is clenched far more tightly than it was, that her gloved fingers have curled into her palms, and that there's a faint, very faint twitch around her upper lip.

Duke listens, at first with his gaze ticking back and forth between X and Charlene, a glance now and then to Petra, and all the while the tension in him builds. Then the galliard's focus turns to him and he begins to truly bristle. His tanned face flushes bright red and his hands clench at his sides and it's all he can do to keep himself contained.

Petra stays silent during that speech, her own body tense as she watches the others, her brows knitting in slight confusion. There's a blink of surprise as Charlene disappears, briefly, and then she glances toward Duke, only to frown more as she sees his expression. "Duke?" she asks in a faint voice.

X brings a finger to her lips. "Shh." She turns back to Petra, and coincidentally Duke. "He's breathing."

When the Galliard blinks back into existence, she's much calmer, standing straighter, still in the position that she left the world in a second before. Her attention immediately goes back to X and Duke, maintaining her position between them and Petra. "Sorry." She says quietly. "Got frustrated and slipped. That happens sometimes." She shakes her head, taking in Duke's bristling and red-cheeked expression. "Am I wrong? Tell me so and I'll take back every word."

Poking a bear with a short stick is not generally a recommended course of action. As X noted so quietly to Petra, Duke was concentrating, holding himself together, but when Charlene speaks to him again, that concentration is broken, and when his eyes snap open, there is nothing but rage visible within. There's only an instant to see it, and then the youth is gone, replaced by the crinos, lashing out with everything he has in a violent attack on the galliard.

X is usually the faster of the two, but that means very little when her expression ripples, and she clearly has to choke down her own violent response. Duke gets past her without trouble. Instead, the senior Ragabash suddenly twists on one heel and lunges at Petra, full bodied, to get her out of the way of the sudden explosion of claws.

Hopefully 'run' is an unnecessary thing to say to Petra, the Galliard surging to Crinos herself in order to not take as much damage as she could if she were in homid form but, thankfully, X goes for Petra. 'I'll have to thank her later' Song-of-Vengance thinks to herself before lunging toward Duke in an effort to blunt his assault.

Petra had started to back up as that change happens, only to scream as X attacks her. Wait, no, just shields. Petra curls up under X, covering her face and shaking. "Oh, god. What do I do?"

"Shh," X says again. She might sound a little tenser, but her voice really hasn't changed much. "Move away." She attempts to encourage Petra by...trying to move her in the direction that is not frenzy ground zero.

There is no thought but destruction, no aim but blood as the cub's claws and teeth tear into the galliard's hide. Rage fuels his arms and can be heard in the snarl that comes from his throat, eyes blazing with the fury kindled within.

Song-of-Vengeance takes the claws ripping into her shoulders and chest with a howl and a growl, bashing back with fists, not claws, slamming them into unprotected eyes and ears, hopefully setting them to ringing before, in an instant, she vanishes again into the Umbra, re-appearing behind the cub a second later and slamming both clenched fists as hard as she possibly can at the base of his skull, using rage to propel them.

Did I mention Charlene does blacksmithing in her spare time? It's true!

Petra starts to crawl away at X's encouragement, trying to keep low and quiet, rather than attract too much attention. It does eventually turn into a full-on run for the woods, though, as she hears more growling behind her.

X lets her run for the moment. The young woman turns back toward the fight, watching with narrowed eyes, but making no move to join in.

For as long as his target is before him, Duke's claws continue to rend, his teeth continue to rip through flesh. When his quarry disappears out from under him, the cub spends half a moment confused, his rage having no immediate target. Just as he starts to turn, the galliard returns, and her fists come down on the back of his head, and he falls.

Song-of-Vengeance SMACKS him again for good measure to make sure he's out cold and in birth form before shrinking to Glabro, getting to her feet, and inspecting the damage done. She'll need a new shirt, that's for sure. "For fuck's sake.." she grumbles. "This is going to take a couple of days to get together." Bite to the shoulder, lots of slashes on chest and belly - nearly eviscerated if he kicked right. That wouldn't have been fun. Her attention turns to X. "Thank you." She rumbles. "For shielding Petra."

X regards Charlene with an expression that almost mirrors her previous ones--almost, but not quite, as it seems, perhaps, a little colder. "That was your fault."

Petra, meanwhile, disappears within the nearby trees.

Duke remains unconcsious.

"That I asked him a question, specifically, to find out who beat him for not giving an answer? And then apologized when I came back?" Charlene hurts, baring her teeth for a moment to Ex before looking over to where Petra disappeared to. "I'll deal with the fallout for this tomorrow. Yeah, it was my fault, and I'm going to tell his elder that." She winces and bends down to heft Duke to her shoulder, carrying him to his tent where he's placed inside. "I'd go after Petra, but I think in my current state, it might not go well. Would you please get her and bring her back here? I've got to go tape myself up."

X's teeth flash in response to Charlene's. "Your apology sucked." She turns on her heel again, but this time it's to start off at a swift jog into the trees, in the direction Petra took.

Petra isn't hard to find, considering the loud, near-panicked breathing. By the time X jogs over, she's found a big tree and is trying to drag herself up into the branches.

X slows when she hears Petra, so that when she reaches the tree the cub has chosen, she's only moving at a faintly brisk walk. She watches Petra struggle for a moment before tipping her head back. "You're doing it wrong."

Petra pauses mid-branch and looks down at X with a frown. "Hands are all shaky." She glances toward the general Edgewood area. "Did she kill him?"

"No." X continues to look up at the cub.

Petra lets out a breath of relief and starts to work her way back down to the ground. "I gotta shift. You gotta help me learn. ...I'm afraid I'll hurt someone else if I try on my own. But I can't be defenseless if /that/ happens more."

X's eyes follow Petra's progress, though the rest of her remains mostly still. "Shifting is easy," she states. "You have to want to be the other yous. Then you are." After a beat, she allows, "You might have to get angry at first."

"Angry I can do," says Petra, and then she points toward the house, her hand still a little shaky. "I'm afraid of getting /that/ angry. That lady got it wrong, they didn't get to me in time. I did hurt someone. And Duke almost hurt all of us, just like that."

"I hurt lots of people," X replies, without batting an eye. "If you know how it feels, you can try not to. He was trying, but she wouldn't let him breathe. It was her fault for being stupid."

Petra blinks at that, and then blinks again. She swallows before wiping her hands on her jeans. She frowns and then lets out a breath, starting to step toward the house. "If it's safe, I want a shower."

X wordlessly points toward the house.

----


Edgewood House: Downstairs(#2007RJh)

The front door leads into a small mudroom; coats are hanging on hooks. It opens into the spacious, well lit living room, with several battered old couches arranged into a sort of conversation pit facing the fireplace, a table in the center of them. There are a few chairs, some straight-backed, some plush and comfortable, arranged to make secondary conversation areas, with little end tables placed in strategic locations. There's a notable absence of either breakable objects, or elaborate electrical equipment such as televisions. The walls, painted an increasingly dingy white, have some sweeping dark fabric prints on them, but no paintings or posters. A steep, uncarpeted staircase leads up to the second floor. There are several doors that lead out to other sections of the house, as well. (+view for details)

Contents:
Emma
Charlene

Obvious exits:
Front Door Upstairs

Charlene is standing in the kitchen with Emma, going over the events of last night. "I will. X got her away and, last I saw, was following her to the woods to make sure she was okay. I'll try and find Petra sometime today to go over what she saw last night and, hopefully, to reassure her a little bit." The pan goes back on the burner, the burner's clicked on, ready for eggs. "you want anything? Won't take much to add another couple of eggs to the pan." Emma politely declines, heading out the closest door to go check on Duke.

Something, perhaps it's the smell of heating metal, draws footsteps from upstairs. X isn't loud, but she's audible enough. She comes partway down the stairs before stopping and peering downward.

Charlene is alone in the kitchen, the sizzle of bacon and eggs filling the downstairs and starting to waft up the stairwell.

X comes down a few more steps, but that appears to be her limit. She stops, partly crouched, and stares into the kitchen.

Charlene is in glabro, cooking eggs, dressed in a t-shirt that's got a few bandages slapped underneath. The sound of metal spatula against metal pan may bring back memories of growing up, of saturday mornings with grandparents, or something like that, and after a flip of the eggs, they're slid out on to a plate with a healthy stack of bacon. She turns, then, to fill a glass with milk and take a seat - conveniently in X's viewpoint - and starts to eat.

X's nose wrinkles for a brief moment. Instead of continuing down the remaining steps, she lightly hops the bannister and lands quite audibly, then heads into the living room.

That does get Charlene's attention, shaggy head barely moving as eyes flick toward the sound and movement. "Morning." She rumbles, shoveling another egg into her mouth, shifting on the chair she's on.

X doesn't return the greeting. She picks out one of the couches to flop into, teenager-style. One gloved hand--always gloves with her--rakes back over her forehead and through her hair.

Charlene mmms quietly and takes another bite, two slices of bacon disappearing into her maw. "Did you find Petra last night?" An attempt at conversation here.

"Yes." Flat. Toneless. Nothing new there, as regards X's conversational mastery.

"And?" There's a scraping of a chair as Charlene emerges from the kitchen, padding on bare feet to lower herself to one of the other chairs, her milk in one hand, plate in the other.

X turns her head to watch Charlene's movement, but once she's traced where the other Fury is headed, she looks back ceilingward. "She took a shower."

The chair creaks as Charlene lowers herself to it, the milk set aside, the plate on her lap where more food is consumed. "I'll probably need to talk to her." She finally says, once her mouth is empty. "What I need to do is to let her know that none of us, as Furies, would threaten death or dismemberment for lack of knowledge. That was my mistake from last night. Among many."

X looks slowly back toward Charlene. "You don't know that." Her words, always flat, seem just that little bit flatter.

"No, you're right, I don't." Charlene replies, fixing X with a gaze for a moment, going back to her meal. "There might be some outlier, some cosmic alignment that might cause such a thing, but speaking for myself and all the furies I know, I can say that truthfully we will never threaten such a thing if it were not necessary." She leans back in her chair slightly, drinking a bit of her milk. "On my watch, it won't happen, though. If it happened to you while you were a cub, I apologize for not being here to prevent it."

X's eyes narrow, and she sits up just a little straighter. "You don't /know/ that," she repeats, more forcefully this time. "This place isn't a fucking hug box. Why tell cubs that it is?"

"I think you're misunderstanding me." Charlene says after putting her milk and breakfast well out of the way, plate cleared and just a little bit left. "I rited here. I firsted in the park and was brought here, to Edgewood, and my cubhood wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, but it also wasn't 'oh, I'm going to be slaughtered if I put my toe past this little line here, or don't call someone by their exact name and title.' That's /stupid/. I've heard stories, X. I know how hard cubhood can be for some people. Getting everything that you knew pulled out from under you, being thrown on the front lines of a war you didn't know existed, with people you might not ever want to associate with?" She sits up, leaning forward. "This place isn't a hug box...whatever the fuck that is....but it's not a minefield ringed with barbed wire, either. Cubs fall over. Cubs hurt themselves. Cubs do stupid things over and over again. Going from 'don't do that' to 'throat rip out' is a pretty fucking massive escalation, and that's NOT going to happen." Char's starting to get riled up, clenching the chair with clawed fingers, the wood creaking....darn the moon. She finally notices, though and ratches down the tension, blowing out a breath, unclenching her hands from the chair where eight fresh clawmarks have been scored into the wood. "Why do I tell cubs that I, and by default my tribe, is not going to hurt them? Because I want them to trust their tribe."

"Maybe for you." X's eyes narrow, and her jaw tightens. "Maybe for you it wasn't a minefield. That doesn't mean it isn't for other people. It doesn't mean the Black Furies don't do it. /Sue/--" She stops herself, inhales sharply through her nostrils. "Lots of people, a /fuckload/ of people, wanted me to die or told me they were going to kill me if I did anything they didn't like. I threw /rocks/ at the /house/ and the Greedy Bitch stole my thoughts and said I couldn't come back, and Sue helped! The Wendigo lady was the one who let me come back."

"I have never said such a thing." Charlene's voice is quiet, maintaining calm. "And I have never thought such a thing. It's why I'm glad you and I are talking here, now, so I can find this out." She leans forward a little, crossing her hands over her lap, elbows on knees. "I don't want anyone to die. Not you. Not Sue. Not Moros. Not Petra. Not Twitch. Not KL-rhya. Not any of my friends. Not any of my enemies in the sept. The only things I want to die are the things that should not be. The things that are anathema to Gaia and her children. Please." She gestures. "Will you tell me your story so that it will not happen again?"

X's jaw tightens further. "You aren't everyone." Flat, but the building temper behind it has vanished again. "What story?"

"Your story. What happened before. What happened after. What led up to this moment, here. Now. Tell me about you, X. Rogue. The only things I know are heard second and third hand, and getting things from the source is usually the best for a Galliard. Allows little room for embellishment or enhancement. It is only truth and, with those stories, knowledge is passed." Charlene lifts a hand, gesturing to X. "I'm not everyone, but I do care about everyone in my tribe. Please." She nods minutely.

Riley enters the house through the front door.

Riley has arrived.

X's eyes narrow a little further as Charlene speaks, and her crossed arms tighten a little against herself. "I'm me," she says. "I escaped the doctors, and now I'm a Black Fury, and I'm still fucking crazy."

"There's so much more to that story and, I hope that in time, you'll share it with me. Will you do me a favor, though?" Charlene is sitting in a chair, in Glabro, bandaged up, with a mostly eaten breakfast nearby. "If you ever need to talk, would you please come find me? I want to know more about my family." She smiles. "Insanity is sometimes helpful in our line of work."

X looks entirely unharmed, by contrast. "No," she says. Just what she's saying no to? She doesn't bother to clarify.

Elegance. Style. Grace. All things that Riley is currently not conducting herself with as she tiredly trudges down from Edgewood's Upstairs, where she's apparently been sleeping for the night. Her typical dedicated clothing is rumpled, as is her hair. She's clearly just rolled out of bed. Her packmate is spotted first, and offered a tired little wave of her hand - when her eyes fall upon Ex, however, her comically drowsy expression sobers and tightens up. Her shoulders slightly lift, and the woman clears her throat. "...Mornin', Char. Rogue."

Charlene doesn't look deflated like that but the offer's at least been made. The Galliard sits back in her chair and lifts a hand to Riley. "Dinna know you were up there, Riley. Mornin'. Bacon's on the counter in there. Can fry an egg if you don't mind me takin' a little time gettin' up to do so."

X continues eyeing Charlene for a few moments longer, before her gaze finally shifts over to Riley. No return greeting, but there is a faint, nearly imperceptible lift of her chin.

The Walker's eyes slide over to Charlene, and she shrugs a shoulder, "One of the many places I'd hang my hat, if I wore one. Got in the habit of crashing here back when an old packmate ran the place, never quite stopped the habit." Another look toward Rogue before she nods, "...and I wouldn't say no to a couple eggs if you're offering."

Charlene nods and gets to her feet, wincing a little from the bites and claws hidden by bandages, carrying her cup and plate back to the kitchen where she starts on a couple of eggs for Riley.

X slumps back into the couch and rakes her gloved fingers through her hair again. She doesn't return her attention to the ceiling, though she isn't directly looking at either of the Garou at this point.

Drowsiness is to blame for Riley's failure to notice those bandages on Charlene on the first pass. A quirk of her lips, and she comments to the kitchen-bound Garou, "Hope you gave at least as good as you got. With Charlene momentarily out of the room, there's only one place for her eyes to wander, and her expression fades. "...Hey. I'm sorry you got dragged into my shit."

got."

The sizzling of eggs can be heard, Charlene returning (after X's pose) with a two plates full of eggs and bacon. "Well, yeah. Was stupid and caused a Get cub to frenzy on me. Ended up knocking him out cold but took a few shots. Need to get a new shirt now too." One plate is offered to Riley. The other is offered to X and, if taken, Charlene sits down. If not? Charlene sits down, with another plate of eggs and bacon.

Sera has arrived.

X looks to Riley again. "No." She makes a vague gesture with one hand. "Just in the same place." She eyes the offered plate, but she doesn't make any move whatsoever to take it.

Accepting the plate of food with a grateful nod, the ragabash makes for the couch, plopping down onto it and efficiently forking some egg into her mouth. After a long bout of chewing followed by a swallow, she makes a second attempt, "...How about, 'I'm sorry for nearly unleashing a frenzying Athro in the same room as you, then?'" She picks up a piece of bacon between her fingers, rips it between her teeth, murmuring, "This is totally undercooked, Char. S'good, though. Hate it crispy."

"There's a fine line between crispy and dry, so I go on the side of caution and do it a little undercooked. Just starting to turn brown - still firm and all." Charlene retakes her seat with her new plate of eggs and bacon and sinks down with a sigh. "Just in case you're curious, a frenzying cub's claws and teeth are surprisingly uncomfortable."

X appears to consider Riley's words for a few moments, before she simply says, "Okay." There's silence from her until Charlene's remark. "Duke knows how to fight."

Riley's spent enough time around the strange Fury to take that one-word acceptance at face value. She folds one leg over the other, and continues to decimate her bacon, glancing over to Charlene, "Still tastes like meat - I totally approve. Besides, ain't like we're gonna be getting a long bout of food poisoning just from some raw food, so I'm all over it."

"I can imagine." Charlene responds to X, setting her full plate aside for a second. "I was lucky he was frenzied, otherwise it would have turned out a lot worse for me."

As is typical for St. Claire, it is raining lightly and as a result, Sera's arrival is a somewhat soggy one. The metis comes in through the front door and begins to remove a cheap plastic poncho. "Afternoon," she greets plesantly enough. Even to human noses, the Strider has the faint scent of weed lingering about her clothes.

Standing at a height of five foot six, Sera is a young woman in her early twenties with mulatto skin, and a varied genetic ancestry. Her slightly wide face and broad cheekbones speak of a fair of amount Central American blood, which is the most easily identifiable ethnicity in her background. The length of her arms and legs makes her look rather gangly, thin, and frail. Even her neck seems overly long, giving her a rather scarecrow appearance. Her hands, if one takes the time to look at them, are a little unusual, as the pinkie and adjoining finger a little longer then the other two fingers.

Her hair is completely hidden under a large cowboy hat, well worn and filthy from regular wear. Round sunglasses, partially covering overly bushy brown eyebrows, are pressed firmly into place. The dark glasses have blinders on either side, completely hiding Sera's eyes from casual view. Her clothing consists of a simple pair of jeans, a long sleeved shirt, and a pair of well battered shoes.

X twists suddenly in her seat on the couch at Sera's voice, and she eyes the newcomer from under hooded lids, with her head a little lower than her shoulders.

Riley's bacon reverie is momentarily interrupted by the arrival of Sera, who she gives a brief nod to. The Fostern's more distinctive features are given a linger glance, before she politely turns her focus away, murmuring, "Afternoon? It's morning." The Walker stubbornly claims, her rumpled clothing and hair a testament to her recent and tenuous wakefulness.

*lingering.

"Hey there, Sera." Charlene apparently recognizes the weed-scented woman, chuckling at Riley. "Want some eggs and bacon?" She offers the plate that X refused,

"Morning," Sera agrees, without missing a beat and an odd little bob of her head. "My apologies." she says to Riley and X. "My name is Sera Follows-The-Tradewinds, Fostern Theurge of the Silent Striders." The woman pauses briefly, as she removes her hat and reveals the feathers that she has - instead of hair. The bright plumage is quite the riot of colour, the primary one being an iridescent green, followed by blue, red and yellow. "And a metis." At the offer of bacon she adds, "thankyou. You are too kind."

X's eyes round a little in clear surprise at the feathers. The rest of her, however, remains unchanged, and she doesn't offer any words in return. Her nostrils, though, visibly twitch.

The swift correction prompts a grin from the grazing adren, and she turns her attention back down to her food, clearing her plate and precariously balancing the fork and plate on the arm of the couch nearest to her, still chewing the last little scraps of bacon.

Charlene grins at the feather-haired Metis, grabbing the last strip from her plate and chewing with a smile. "I've not seen you in a dog's age, Sera. How have you been lately?"

"I've been well," Sera claims, as she replaces her hat and wedges it in to place. "But I'm afraid that my camper van will be suffering a breakdown soon and I'm finding it difficult to find the replacement part I need. It's old," she adds, almost apologetically.

X sucks in a sharp breath. Abruptly, she pushes off the couch and moves very very quickly for the door, with a muttered, 'sorry', as she goes.

Riley stands a bit more vigorously than she intends at the flurry of motion from X. "...Rogue. I want to talk to you, when you cool down."

"There's a kinfolk in town - Get kin, if I recall properly - that owns a garage. She might be able to help you out if you can get introductions through the Get of Fenris. Worked on my motorcycle, and it's twice as old as I am." X standing and moving toward the door causes her to pause.

"Did I do something wrong?" Sera asks, as she removes a small metal case from her back pocket. The case is popped open, a joint is removed, then placed between the Strider's lips. "And I'm afraid that I don't know any of the Get here," Sera claims.

X seems very reluctant to actually stop to answer Riley, so instead she slinks quickly past Sera, with a few vigorous nods. Sera's question gets an even sharper shake of her head, before she storms out the door and slams it rather heavily behind her.

Riley sucks in a breath and lets it out, sinking back down into the couch, "...The hell was that about? Trained her for months, and I still only have half a notion of what's going on in her head."

"It's not you, Sera." Charlene says with a sigh, flopping her head back. "It's just X being X. She takes a little...okay, a lot of getting used to, but she has a good heart in there." She thinks for a moment. "Moon's kind of close to full....we might be able to get Emma to take your van in or get her to come out here. I've never met her personally - just one of her employees - but she does good work on anything with wheels."

Charlene taps her nose. "I'm in the same boat you are, Riley."

Sera ahhs. "Well, so long as I didn't offend," the metis says around the joint in her mouth. "My camper still runs just fine. It shouldn't start acting up for a week, or so."

The phrasing of Sera's words prompts a lift of a brow from Riley, and she opens her mouth as though to point it out, then closes it right back after a moment's thought. Her conflicted expression slips into a smirk again, and she shakes her head, "...So, wait. You're having prophetic dreams about your car, or something? Hell, give me that superpower. I seem to fuck mine up every time I /touch/ it."

"I think that might get annoying after a time. A 'check engine' light in your brain that never turns off until it's taken care of, and that's really twitchy when it comes to needing work." Charlene stretches a little, wincing when one of her wounds is pulled open a bit too much.

Sera smiles, although the expression seems a little odd, mostly due to the large round glasses, as they hide a fair bit of her face. "I could look at your bike, if you like, and let you know if certain parts are likely to break in the near future."

"Sure, I'd like that." Charlene says with a smile - a bit vicious, since she's Glabro right now but the sentiment's the same. "If you're ever in town, we'll have to get you in contact with Maddie Broken-Toes, the Master of Rites. I think you and she will get along very well."

With care not to inadvertently knock her plate off of the couch in the process, the ragabash flumps down on the couch, her eyes drifting half-closed. Obviously, she's still more than a little sleepy, and the full stomach doesn't seem to be particularly helpful in warding off that particular problem.

"I know Maddie," Sera says and leans her shoulder against a convenient wall. "I finished teaching her a Rite, not all that long ago."

Charlene nods. "I'm working on teaching a few of the minor ones around - the more people who can bind their clothes to them, for instance, or say that they're sorry, the better, and eventually I'm hoping to learn a few more rites of my own. Just have to figure out what needs to be known and then hunt down whoever knows it - like you for instance." Charlene smiles. "What rite, if you don't mind me asking, did you teach Maddie?"

Riley drags herself upright again, scrubbing at her eyes with the back of her hand before giving a shake of her head, "...eh, Maddie, Maddie... that's the one that talk's all fucked up, yeah?"

"Opening of the Inner Sky," Sera says. "And, if you have a Rite that I do not know, I would be interested in learning it. I know a number of them." That said, the Strider begins to list a rather impressive collection of rites.

"If you don't mind learning a sad, but sometimes necessary one...I do know Gathering of the Departed." It takes a while for Charlene to go through the list that she knows in her head, noticing that one that she knows isn't included there.

Riley's head slowly tilts as the list continues. And continues. When Sera finally stops talking, Riley offers a low whistle. "Jesus, you make me feel like some kind of a slacker."

Sera smiles, that odd smile again. "A legacy from my mother. And yes, I would be interested in learning that Rite. If there are any you would like to know in return, just let me know."

Stretching, Riley snags her plate and walks it on over to the kitchen. When it rattles into place in the sink, the ragabash returns, "...Thinkin' I'm gonna see about trackin' down Rogue. Hopefully she's had enough time to cool off."

"Would you mind some company?" Sera asks, as she briefly removes the joint from her lips. "I could use a smoke."

"A good legacy." Charlene observes after a moment, looking to Sera. "There are so many rites there that I've never heard of. I don't know if my brain could hold them all." Charlene waves to the pair. "I'm just going to....convalesce for a while. Sera, you and I should get together when I'm a little less butchered and I'll teach you the gathering."

Riley shrugs half a shoulder to Sera, "Nah, knock yourself out. Thanks for breakfast, Char." She gives a firm nod in her packmate's direction, then heads out.

"I would like that, Charlene, my thanks," Sera says, then follows Riley out the door. Lighting up, as soon as she is outside. Riley, of course, is offered a joint as well.

----


Caern: The Stone Firepit

A subtle undulation of the land forms an curious, natural spiral in the open ground. One side of the formation rises to create a half-circle or crescent of earth surrounding and encompassing the spiral. The ground is littered with rock and flagstones, both large and small. Someone has carefully gathered up a trove of these and erected a clear fire pit. Flagstones with smooth surfaces have been laid along the upper lip of half circle of earth around the fire pit, turning it into a nice seating area. All debris and flammable material's been removed from within the spiral, and a fire has been laid. Just beyond the spiral's edge, wood has been collected and piled for future use. Surrounding this, the rugged walls of the canyon have been half buried by the Wyld surge, making the upper slope of the valley more gentle than it was before. Stands of Douglas fir and white pines mix with hemlock, lodgepole pines, and western larch trees to fill much of the open space, but the trees here are not nearly as dense as they are in the surrounding forests of the bawn. The sparse woods allows a partial view of the sky, and both sun and moonlight filter down to create enigmatic and beautiful shadow patterns on the forest floor. That floor is blanketed with a thick, soft rug of shed pine needles, lichen and leaf debris. The moss-covered relics of old, dead trees occasionally mark a place where once great sentinels loomed above.

The caern expands in two directions from here. The escarpment wall and raised dais form one point of the new triangle, while the center of the caern and its gigantic, Wyld-influenced tree marks the other. The only obvious way out of the caern is the valley slope that leads to the central bawn.

Contents:
Little Silvertip

Obvious exits:
Center Escarpment Central Bawn

Little Silvertip has a small fire going in the firepit, burning bits of cedar. Despite the cool winds, it's apparently too damn hot for one Uktena; the white furred wolf sits back, partially melted over a pile of cedar wood, staring into the flames.

Rogue arrives quietly, slinking on four legs down the slope from the central bawn. The fire seems to have attracted her, because her head is angled toward it, and her nose is twitching at the scent of burning wood. She pauses halfway down the slope, one front paw raised, once she spies who it is that's near it.

Little Silvertip doesn't seem to realize she has company (or doesn't care). The small form of the Uktena keeps staring into the flames, eyes tracing over the tongues like it's the most interesting thing she'd seen in years.

Rogue slowly puts that paw down. Her ears twitch backward before she continues her approach, though she's slower now, and she comes in at an angle that will put her within Silvertip's field of vision long before she actually reaches the fire. Her tail is straight out behind her, neither lifted nor particularly lowered.

Little Silvertip, all the same, doesn't seem to notice her. The arctic wolf is positively bewitched by the flames, and all that they show. Rogue could probably get quite close without the ahroun noticing.

Rogue huffs when she recognizes this. The scarred Fury dances back a little from the fire, so that she has a respectable distance between both it and Silvertip, and plops onto her haunches. Firelight doesn't help that feverish look her eyes always seem to have one single bit.

Little Silvertip takes a bit to finally rouse - the Uktena slides off the wood pile, grabbing a bit in her teeth before jerking it to the side to throw the thicker branch on. It's an impressive move, but entirely unnecessary if one were to just resort to using thumbs. It's about then when she notices the Ragabash. Her eyes narrow, squinting curiously at the Fury.

Rogue's ears slide a little bit further back. She's wary, that's clear, but mild curiosity seems mutual. After a moment of doing nothing, she notes that she saw the fire.

Little Silvertip continues to peer back, tail slowly waving as it works its way to a casually dominant height. Yes, Little Silvertip agrees, there is a fire. It's right there.

Yes. Rogue, so agreeable! Again she doesn't offer any other manner of communication for a significant pause. She wanted to see who made a fire. She can leave now. This last seems to be more offer than statement.

Yes. Silvertip replies, with the same manner of communication as the Fury. There's an equally long pause from the Uktena before she tells her, Rogue could go. She could stay. She could also go sideways. Or die. Many things Rogue could do. Many options.

Rogue flicks an ear. There's no 'verbal' response, but she slowly slides her front legs out until she's lying, rather than sitting, and then proceeds to turn her head and chew at the fur along her right paw.

Little Silvertip waits a few moments, before observing that Rogue chose to stay, like that's the most interesting thing she'd seen in ages (well, aside from the fire). Her ears flicker as she takes a few sniffs at the air.

Rogue agrees that she did. She continues to chew at her paw, then moves on to the leg attached to it, paying particular attention to where there's only the faintest of signs that there might be some marking on the skin itself. She smells like Edgewood and the Furies' territory, like pine and mud and dirt. Graphite? Graphite. She 'explains', if it can be considered that, that Little Silvertip Mauls the Horned Serpent didn't leave, or tell her to leave.

Little Silvertip considers for a moment, before agreeing she didn't. She glances back at the fire for a long moment, raising one ear like she's listening to it. Turning back to Rogue, she notes that she still had other options. Could have stared from a tree.

Little Silvertip didn't leave or tell her to leave, Rogue repeats. A lot of the others do. She does, however, stop the chewing and turn her head, as if sizing the trees up. Yes, she determines. She could climb those and watch.

Untangler climbed trees and watched, Little Silvertip reports. He was a fool moon too. The Uktena's tail waves a few times, before she suddenly looks about suspiciously, sniffing at the air. Untangler could still be watching them.

Rogue looks back to Little Silvertip at this. She doesn't know any Untanglers. Her nose twitches only a moment after the other Garou sniffs, as if she needs to check too. But she likes to climb things. She can see more from up there.

Untangler is small, she explains, before pausing. There's a moment's thought, before she amends that Untangler is bigger than her now, but weaker. And is a Wendigo. He hides very, very well, and spies on lots. He hides in trees and under rocks. They played a game where they hide, and Little Silvertip didn't see him for a week.

Rogue's interest sharpens, and she listens to this without interruption. She has seen No Moons use magic to hide, but she does not know how to do that. Did Untangler use magic?

Little Silvertip flicks an ear in the affirmative. Magic and other cleverness, she agrees. The Uktena turns about, sniffing at the air intently, like trying to find the scent of her long-ago packmate.

Rogue seems, for whatever reason, mildly pleased by this. She sniffs at the air again, because Silvertip does, but the rest of her seems to relax a fraction more. Little Silvertip hasn't seen Deer-Feet around, has he?

Little Silvertip wrinkles her nose, looking back down to the surgically scarred Fury. Little Silvertip has seen Moose-Calf-Metis, yes, she agrees readily. She skips a beat, before adding she doesn't know when he'll grow antlers.

Rogue confides that she's looking for him. She thinks Deer-Feet is hiding from her, but not as a game, and she doesn't think he has magic to do it. She knows he's not clever. She hasn't seen him since the big meeting here.

Moot, Little Silvertip explains, giving the idea a lupine 'phrase' that's easy to understand. Moot here. She considers the other's plight for a moment, ears flickering. Rogue is a fool moon, yes? She asks, head cocking to the side. What gifts does she know?

Moot, Rogue agrees, taking the correction in stride. To the question, she chuffs in the affirmative, and then notes that she can open locked things if she tries hard, and she can hear voices in places where people talked if she listens just so. And she can keep her wolf senses even when she's not a wolf, or make them much stronger when she is a wolf.

Little Silvertip flicks her ears, acknowledging the other. Rogue is Fool Moon. Also scout. Where would Moose-Calf-Metis be? Start sniffing there. Scout him out. She skips a few beats, thinking. He has a metal horse he rides, she thinks 'outloud.' Must have a place to put that metal horse.

Rogue swipes her tongue over her whiskers. He does not go to the Fury place very often, because he's scared of Giant. She has been waiting for him at the Greedy den, but he has not been there when she is. She doesn't sniff him here or in the forest. She thinks he rides the metal horse into the scab. She has not looked there. Maybe he is hiding there.

Little Silvertip gives the Ragabash an expectant look. Go scout the Scab then, she admonishes. Little Silvertip isn't a scout moon. But not here, not forest, not any of the places he would be, then she's going to find him elsewhere.

Rogue agrees, but there's a faint hint of reluctance. She can't scout it yet. She will have to wait until the moon is smaller again.

Little Silvertip cocks her head to the side, whining a wordless question, as if to ask 'huh'?

Rogue explains that the moon is too big for her to go into the Scab. It is very bad to be around humans when she feels this way.

Little Silvertip keeps her head cocked to the side, her confusion still reigning supreme. She takes a few sniffs in Rogue's direction, like that'd clear things up.

Rogue's ears splay. Silvertip's confusion seems to confuse her back, and there's a twitchiness around the fur near her shoulders that's noticeable. The moon is big, she 'explains' again. When the moon is big, she feels very bad. Before Giant found her and made her come to be Garou, very bad things happened when the moon was big, so she tried to hide from humans. But the Scabs are so full of humans, hiding from all of them doesn't always work, even when she tells them to go away.

Little Silvertip doesn't seem to understand the other at all. Rogue is... scared of the apes? She ventures slowly. A few moments later she corrects herself with 'humans.' Humans are not more dangerous on big moons.

No. Rogue agrees that humans are not more dangerous. She is very dangerous. Humans don't like her at all, but sometimes they would bother her instead of leaving, and sometimes they bother her when the moon is fat. Her splayed ears flatten. She tells them to go away when they do that, but sometimes they don't listen. And then she wakes up. Pieces of human and blood everywhere. So now she has places away from the Scab that she stays when she feels like this, even though Giant and the others have shown her how to control it better.

Little Silvertip wrinkles her nose a bit, giving the ragabash a very skeptical look. Rouge must be very weak willed, she surmises. The arctic wolf takes a few steps forward, panting a bit to blow off some of the heat she's feeling. That's bad. She should stop being that.

Rogue starts to flash her teeth in response, but she does manage to catch herself before the gesture is fully realized. She's on her feet quite quickly, and she paces a few steps to the side. She is not. She frenzies less than Deer-Feet. Much less. She is not weak-willed. /Angry/.

Little Silvertip curls her own lips back when the Fury starts to flash her teeth, but the Uktena seems largely unperturbed by the sudden enthusiasm of Rogue. Taking a moment to collect her posture again, she disagrees. Angry and weak willed. Little Silvertip is angry, but fights off frenzy when she feels it coming. She is angry and strong willed. Deer-Moose-Metis is weak willed and not very angry, but weak willed enough to not be able to stop his small frenzy. Which is bad, too.

Rogue rumbles her denial this time. She is /not/. She didn't attack the stupid Fury last night, even when the stupid Fury yelled at her, said lies, and insulted Wendigo Lady and your tribes. Even when the stupid Fury made No Moon Job go crazy on her. She hasn't frenzied in a long time. Even when she dreamed about the doctor-monster and didn't know it was a dream. That's why she passed her Rite.

Little Silvertip takes some of that with a curious airs, but doesn't follow it up with any questions to probe any of the points just yet. Instead, she takes a step forward, lifting her head up high. Then Rogue should have no problem with apes in the scab. Just do the not-frenzying thing again.

Rogue's fur has bristled in places far past her shoulders by this point, but where Silvertip gets higher, she gets lower. Does Little Silvertip Mauls the Horned Serpent go to the scab when the moon is fat?

Little Silvertip flicks an ear in the affirmative. When she knows she can control herself. She is a warrior. They have lots and lots of rage. Most apes stay away from her, and she doesn't talk at them, so they don't make her want to frenzy. There's a few beats skipped before she adds that she's also had lots of practice controlling her rage, now. There's a few more beats before she (somewhat begrudgingly) corrects herself, and says /Humans/ stay away from her.

Rogue breathes a little more slowly than her rapidly increasing rate was allowing before. Most humans stay away from her too. Some are stupid and want to fight her, because they're scared. Before Giant found her, she didn't know how to stop it, and the forest was dangerous for monsters and she didn't know how to catch food very well, so she had to stay in the Scabs when she wasn't running.

Little Silvertip gives Rogue a look verging towards irritation. Then don't go to the scab, and don't find Deer-Metis, she huffs. Her ears flicker forward, eyes rounding out slightly as she adds that /Rogue/ is very weird too. Not metis (she says, somewhat approvingly), but still very weird.

Rogue huffs in response. /Little Sivertip/ is weird, she states defensively. She will find Deer-Feet when the moon is less fat, because right now she wants to peel Deer-Feet's fur off for being a stupid coward. She does not have as much practice at control as Little Silvertip does, yet.

Little Silvertip's ears scoop forward, the Uktena taking a step towards the Ragabash with her eyes further rounding out in irritation. Little Silvertip is very normal and good, most of the time, she huffs in annoyance. Only rarely weird.

For a fraction of a second, Rogue looks as though she might continue that particular line of the argument, but she's already stepping back, and as soon as her hind paw moves that rebelliousness withers, and she ends up more crouching than standing, tail lowering further. She looks away from the Uktena.

Little Silvertip backs down when her gaze goes away, the Uktena relaxing visibly. Her tongue snakes out, licking at her whiskers a few times, before she turns back to the fire and heads a bit in that direction. She pauses, looking back. Did Moose-Calf-Metis say bad things about this one's sister? she asks, pointedly.

Rogue takes a little longer to respond, but despite a certain lingering level of...something (resentment?), the tension from her seems to have dropped. No. Deer-Feet says bad things about her--she indicates herself--all the time, but she has not heard him say bad things about Wendigo Lady. Stupid Fury said bad things about Wendigo Lady, Wendigo and Uktena. Female Fury, she clarifies. Song of Vengeance.

Little Silvertip's ears perk, lips curling back. What bad things? She asks, brusquely.

Rogue settles onto her haunches, albeit less at ease than before. Stupid Fury, No Moon Job, and a new Fury cub were in the meadow at the Greedy den, talking. She--Rogue indicates herself again--tells the new cub that Garou make you say your name and job and tribe when you meet them the first time. Stupid Fury says that Garou don't make anyone say that. No Moon Job says they do, and they get mad if you do it wrong, and sometimes threaten. Stupid Fury acts like No Moon Job is lying. So she--indicating herself--says that No Moon Job is right, because lots of Garou threatened both her and No Moon Job, and because Stupid Fury is annoying. Then Stupid Fury gets mad at her, says she has to find out who pissed in her food. She's mad because she doesn't know about this one, and she says no one was ever mean to her when she was a cub. Then she tells No Moon Job that whoever threatened to kill him had to be Uktena or Wendigo, because other tribes never do bad things to cubs--and here, there's a derisive snort. Stupid Fury names Wendigo Lady first, then Little Silvertip. She says -rhya but doesn't mean it. Says Wendigo and Uktena are too focused on beliefs and honor, and yelling is bad, even though she is yelling.

Little Silvertip's lip curls back. This One got mad at the Get cub because the Get Cub was incredibly rude, and refused to answer a question. Only /hit/ cub because get cub frenzied. Is Little Silvertip supposed to leave frenzying cub running through woods in front of apes? she growls.

No, Rogue replies. In fact, that almost seems to be her entire reply, but no, the rest of it is just delayed. Little Silvertip got mad at No Moon Job, but lots and lots of Garou got mad at him before and told him they wanted him to die, even if he wasn't rude and answered questions. Deer-Feet was bad to him, and others. Not Wendigo and Uktena. And Wendigo and Uktena were not bad to /her/. Wendigo Lady made the Greedy Bitch let her back to the Greedy den, and didn't tell her she should die or that she wanted to kill her.

Little Silvertip stomps in a little circle, only half paying attention to Rogue. Her irritation starts to grow. Song of Vengeance is /bad/. Little Silvertip's sister is good! More good than Song of Vengeance! Her circling intensifies, ears going to an outright irate configuration. More honourable! And nice! And friendly! And good! And keeps the old ways! And really good!

Rogue watches Silvertip carefully, but the only thing she actually does besides that is make little gestures of agreement to her statements.

Little Silvertip stops circling, and curls her lip back. Flashing teeth, she growls to the west; it's obviously not aimed at Rogue in the least. After a few moments of good ol' growling, the arctic wolf recollects herself. Will tell her sister. Will make a grievance at the moot. Ask for apology. she huffs.

Rogue acknowledges this without hesitation. Stupid Fury kept standing between her and the Fury cub, like she thought this one was going to attack her for no reason. And then she made No Moon Job very angry and disappeared. This one told the cub to let No Moon Job calm down, but then Stupid Fury came back and yelled at him again, so No Moon Job frenzied on her.

Little Silvertip doesn't seem nearly as irate about this - though it does seem to reaffirm every negative bit of posture she has. Little Silvertip's sister is /good./ Wouldn't do that. Song of Vengeance isn't half as good.

Rogue agrees again. Wendigo Lady helped her, and made the Greedy Bitch share. This, it seems, is a very big plus in her book.

Little Silvertip lets out a huff, some (but not all) of the anger bleeding away when she does. Llttle Silvertip's sister's name is Pierces Ice, or Oncoming Storm, or Grapples with Flames, or Tempest's Wake, she supplies, with traces of the anger towards Charlene. Now three Wendigo Ladies at the sept, so others won't know who Rogue means.

Rogue considers this for a moment, but once more there's agreement. Tempest's Wake.

Little Silvertip lets out another huff, before stalking back to the fire. With a mighty heave, she flops on the wood pile, looking irate. Maybe even a bit brood-y?

Rogue lies back down, albeit somewhat further back and at a different angle than she was before. There's no attempt from her to restart the conversation. She seems to turn her attention, or at least, her gaze, to the fire itself.

Little Silvertip glowers at it - but gradually, her ire seems to bleed away, like the Uktena is getting sucked into a trance. Eventually, she seems totally oblivious to whatever it is the Ragabash is doing.

Nothing interesting, that's for sure. While Rogue isn't trancing, she's clearly lost in her own private thoughts. Judging by the tilt of her ears, they aren't particularly enjoyable ones.