It is currently 14:18 Pacific Time on Fri Jul 18 1997.
Currently on this gusty and hot summer afternoon in the general St. Claire
area, it is 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29.4 degrees Celsius). The wind is coming
from the southwest at 14.3 mph. The ground is wet. Skies are hazy with a
small chance of precipitation.
Currently the moon is in the waxing Full Moon phase (91% full).
Kasie is crouched down near the former chicken coop. She's poking around the
blackened and splintered boards, occcasionally picking one up for a closer
look before setting it back down.
Erik's approach is not exactly silent, and when he spots the cub he lifts his
voice to carry to her. "Kasie?"
One second the cub is looking down at the mess at her feet, then in a
heartbeat her head shoots towards the voice. A fleeting expression of guilt
is seen before a bright smile chases it away. She stands as she says,
"Hello!"
Erik's tone of voice is somewhat tired; though it's no less friendly,
something's bothering him. "Kasie, I need to speak with you."
Kasie cocks her head as her smile slips a notch. Her eyes move across his
face... or at least over the mask covering it. "Is something wrong?" she
asks, tone totally different than her 'hello!' was a moment ago.
Barnyard
The lane wends its way back and around the farmhouse to here, where it widens
into a broad, grassy sward contained only by the woods which encircle it on
three sides. The lane used to continue past a building to the west that has
been converted to a garage and the big barn to the east, but neglect left
the fields to go wild, and later work was done to collect the gravel and
pile in the yard of the abandoned chicken coop. The effect of this has been
a conversion of worked farmland into an area of natural prairie except for
the patch of ground worked into a good-sized garden on the southern side of
the barn which like the chicken coop stands silent and empty of livestock.
A sliding glass door allows admittance to the farmhouse, the interior obscured
by Levolor (tm) blinds in a wood-grain pattern. The lane leads out around
the house to the southwest. The discerning can just barely pick out the
beginnings of a faint path into the woods towards the southeast.
Erik shakes his head. "Not really... nothing you've done, anyway. Come with
me, please?" His tone of voice, and the gentle beckoning gesture, is more in
keeping with a tolerant older brother than stern authority.
Kasie ohs and nods, tension seeming to, for the most part, lift. She steps
away from the boards and trots over to him.
Erik leads the cub a short distance out into the woods for some privacy.
Bawn: Western Forest(#3018RA)
Tall Sitka spruce and sequoia crowd around and above you. Many of the trees
are old, their branches twisted into impossible shapes, trunks broad and
draped with lichen, mosses and creepers. Tendrils of moss hand down from
them like green spiderwebs, snaring the unwary with cold, ghostly fingers.
The patches of younger growth are dense and pale, needles tinged with
silver. Matted undergrowth huddles sullenly in the occasional small
clearings, clutching with thorns and burrs at the legs of those who would
pass. Deer seldom venture here, but the forest is full of rustlings, and
tiny glints from wary, watchful eyes.
The forest spreads out to the east, bounded on the west by Sunrise Road. From
farther to the west, one can occasionally here the distant sounds of the
town of Kent's Crossing.
Kasie follows after, sticking by his side.
Erik ducks into a small clearing off the trail and sits down, motioning for
her to do likewise. "I need to explain to you about Metis, and our laws,
Kasie."
Kasie steps in as he does. She moves to take a seat, her eyes never leaving
him. "Uh, okay, but there was a woman," She pauses a moment, thinking.
"Cassandra. She was in the house and talked to us about somethings. She told
up about Metis." Her voice tone rises slightly at the end, making the last
line almost into a hopeful question.
Erik nods. "I know. She said you got very... angry."
Kasie ohs again, dropping her eyes from him for a moment. She's quiet, then
peeks up at him. "Yeah..." The single word is soft and drawn out as if she
was reluctant to admit even that.
Erik's voice is very gentle. "What did she say, and why did you get angry?"
Kasie shrugs a little, her shoulders staying up at the end of the motion. She
drops her eyes to watch her foot as she moves it to scrape the ground a
little. "Wasn't jus-really her."
Erik watches the cub with shadowed eyes. "Tell me, then, what she said, okay?"
Coaxing now, gently.
Kasie keeps her eyes on her foot as it moves. "Well she was just telling up
about them, " her voice drops a little, "That it wasn't their fault and they
got blamed because their parents broke some law..." Her voice trails off
again.
"The first law of the Litany," says Erik quietly. "'Garou shall not mate with
Garou.'" He repeats the law in the Garou tongue, reverently, and then asks,
"Why do you think this is, Kasie? Why such a law?" His voice remains gentle
over a delicate subject.
Kasie listens, then leans in closer as he says it again in Garou. Sitting back
up, she raises a hand to tuck her bangs behind one ear. "Uh, because then
there might be too many?" Her tone holds no confidence in her answer.
Erik is silent a moment. Then: "Kasie, will you close your eyes for a moment?"
Kasie's eyes meet his shadowed ones. Her lips press together and she sits
very, very still. At last she opens her mouth, seemingly about to speak, but
finally just closes it without saying anything. She closes her eyes.
Erik wordlessly removes his hat and then - after a small hesitation - the
mask. Holding both in his lap and fixing his eyes downward, he says,
quietly. "Open them, now."
Kasie opens them as he bids her to. She flinches back, making a small sound of
surprise as she does so. She looks down, then slowly, so slowly, she raises
her eyes back up to his face. She meets his eyes. Though she tries to keep
her face blank, she's pretty bad at it. Sympathy is easiest to read, though
a mix of what might be anger and protectiveness can also be seen. "You
didn't have to show me," she says in an apologetic whisper.
Erik's expression is tight, malformed lips twisted into a faint grimace as
long fingers twist the white cloth mask. "You needed to see," he says
quietly. "To understand. I know you think very... highly of me, Kasie, but
all Metis are flawed, and not just in ways that can be seen."
Kasie keeps her eyes only on his. "So?"
Drew comes through the woods, head down, hands stuffed into her pockets,
scuffing the leaves somewhat with her feet. She completely misses the two
further into the woods.
Erik startles at the sound of footsteps and quickly replaces the mask.
Kasie starts, more from Erik's quick movement than from any noise Drew might
make.
Drew is whistling somewhat tunelessly as she heads for the faint sound of the
creek.
Erik rises quietly and beckons to Kasie, leading her deeper into the woods, to
a more sheltered clearing.
You walk through the woods and enter the clearing beside the stream.
Sheltered Clearing(#3331RJ)
This clearing is small, sheltered, and easy to miss. Two holly trees,
one with berries, mark the opening you came through. To the west, the small
creek curves around from the north and cuts through the edge of the
clearing, and there are several low, flat stones placed by its side. Wild
roses bushes grow bramble-like between the trees making most directions
impassable, a few rosehips visible among the leaves and thorns. Plants grow
in wild profusion around the perimeter of the clearing, green and lush,
blooming with the delicate precision of wild flowers which prefer survival
to ornament. Nestled in amidst the undergrowth to the southeast is a small
white canvas tent on a wooden frame that looks like something out of the
middle ages, and there is a small pit, lined with rocks, at the center of
the clearing. The faint ghost of a path traces a loose double spiral from
the holly trees, in toward the center, and out again to the tent, although
the entire clearing could be crossed directly in three strides.
Dylan's scent is clear everywhere in the clearing, and particularly
clings to the canvas of the tent.
Kasie settles back down and asks again. "So?" The question is firm, quite
unlike her normal tone.
Erik replaces his hat as well and sits down, regaining his composure. He turns
to the cub, puzzled. "What exactly are you asking?"
Kasie shrugs once, the movement almost angry. Once his mask is back in place
she looks away. "I don't understand." The simple statement has many
inflections.
Erik exhales a quiet sigh, gathering his thoughts. "When a Garou mates with
another Garou instead of a human or a wolf, it's like... well, like mating
with your brother or sister. Only in our case, the child is /always/
deformed and always sterile. Hence the nickname 'mule'." He pauses to see
how she absorbs this.
Kasie shakes her head and waves a hand dismissively. She shifts positions so
she can hug her knees close to her chest. She sits there, not really looking
at him, her arms wrapped around her legs. "Not your fault, though." Though
she whispers, the tone holds a sense of her anger to it all, to the
perceived unfairness of the world as a whole.
Erik rubs at the back of his neck, under the mask. "Of course it's not," he
replies. "But, in a very definite way, it is."
Kasie sits up a little straighter, lower half of her face coming into sight
above her knees. "How?" She asks, almost accusingly.
Erik spreads gloved hands. "When we die, our spirits do not simply vanish, and
sometimes, they are returned to this, the 'real' world. Reincarnation, if
you will." His hands drop. "Some of us can even hear the ghosts of our
ancestors and our pasts." He pauses, then expells a breath. "I'm not
explaining this very well."
Kasie's face clouds over with confusion. She shakes her head, all traces of
harshness falling away from her tone. "What do ghosts have to do with how
people treat you?"
Erik steeples his fingers. "Garou sometimes get reborn, as I said, into real
bodies, not just as voices and spirits. And their conduct in the previous
life will... determine in what sort of life they will be born back into.
High, or low." At the last word, he gestures to himself.
Kasie starts to nod her head, the movement firm and decisive. "Right, what
/you/ do," She pauses and blinks, then looks questioningly to him. "Wait.
You're not saying that your parents' spirits are in you? That it's okay to
treat /you/ bad to somehow punish them?"
Erik shakes his head. "My parents - my mother at least - have already paid.
She with her life." He lets that hang for a moment before going on. "I mean
further back. Thousands of years, perhaps, or just hundreds." He sighs.
"What you see of me, Kasie, of who I am, is a result of our tribe's
knowledge that Metis are flawed internally as well as externally. Weaker.
More easily... turned. And thus we endure trials, because that is as it
should be." He pauses again. "We are still Garou, of course. But not as
other Garou, and not as /good/ as other Garou. Do you understand?"
Kasie offers him a soft 'sorry' during his pause after telling of his mother,
then she falls quiet again, listening. She remains quiet after he's done,
her eyes open but gaze seemed to be turned inward. Finally she just looks
looks to him and says "No. You're saying the same thing you did before. It's
not your fault." Instead of firmness, this time her voice holds a note of
pleading. "You didn't do anything wrong," she insists.
"You don't know that." Rising suddenly, Erik steps backwards, wrapping his
arms across his chest. "Kasie, forgive me, but you need to understand this.
It's less to do with what I've done than what I /would/ do. Would you trust
a chain to hold you safe if you knew one of the links was nearly rusted
through?"
Kasie lowers her chin to her knees, making her seem smaller, less of a threat
(as if she had been one before). She counters in her usual soft voice,
"Would you trust your own eyes to check the chain for rust, or would you
just accept the words of someone else." Kasie meets his eyes as she finishes
and holds his gaze, her look most unlike that of your usual 15 year old.
Erik only meets her eyes for a brief moment before looking away. Very quietly,
he sighs. "Then use your eyes well, Kasie, and keep them open. And remember
the first law. Even if there are no children, mating with another Garou is a
crime."
Kasie watches him a moment longer, appearing to think on his words. She nods,
then bounces up and to her feet. Walking towards him, she says, "Okay
Erik..." She takes another step, smile starting to grow on her face.
"...rhya" she adds, glancing out of the corner of her eye at him to gauge
the effect.
Erik murmurs, "You would have made a wonderful Ragabash, Kasie." But he's
relented, giving up trying to convince the girl that he's scum. A job for a
Fianna greater than him, maybe. "There are other laws, of course, but we can
leave those for another time, if you like."
Kasie nods as she closes the distance between them. She stops, looking up at
him. "So did I use it right? 'Rhya'? I heard a few other people using it,
it's like 'sir'? When someone's older than you?"
Erik slips his hands into his coat pockets. "It's a suffix for someone of
greater station, yes. But it's also quite... formal. For equals, you use
-yuf. It's not necessary all the time, though."
Kasie nods, still smiling. She glances back towards the barn and asks in a
voice that attempts to be casual, "Someone asked me who my teacher was. I,
uh, said you." She glances back at him, a hint of worry in her eyes, "That
was okay, right? He was mad and I didn't know who else to say."
Erik tilts his head. "No... you were right. I am your teacher, it seems." He
shifts his weight from one foot to the other. "Who was mad?"
Kasie smiles at the confirmation, then gives her head a little shake. "Don't
know. I told him who I was, but he didn't tell me his name."
Erik hrms. "What did he look like?"
Kasie answers, giving a general description of Alexander.
Erik nods slowly. "He's a Shadow Lord, if that's who I think it is." His voice
suggests a frown, though not at Kasie. He straightens a bit. "Just remember,
Kasie, that you're a Fianna cub. You're part of our... our pack, or family.
You need to respect your elders no matter what their tribe, but, erm. Don't
listen too closely to what the Shadow Lords say. And they shouldn't be
harassing you."
Kasie nods, the movement somewhat unsure. "But was he right? He said I
couldn't leave the barn if I wanted to be a wolf for a while?" She makes a
little face at that, "I just wanted to play in the woods for a bit..."
Erik shakes his head. "It's better to be human around the farmhouse. /Inside/
the barn is okay, but when you head for the woods, be a human until you're
within the trees."
Kasie nods, smile returning. "Okay, I'll remember that!"
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
