"..."

[hazlogs]

Takes place at night 5 Jan 2004

Shelter #3

Concrete walls, concrete floors, four steel bunkbeds with austere mattresses.
      On one wall is a mirror with a black plastic comb stuck behind the frame. 
      On the adjoining wall is a green and white metal sign that reads "Shea 
      Stadium" and an arrow pointing towards the thick solid door to the 
      alleyway.

Megan cradles the bowl in the crook of her left elbow, dips the tips of the
      branchlets into the water, and then sprinkles it onto Konstantin, with a 
      new sound to the chanting she's doing. She begins to walk around him 
      widdershins once more, stopping at the cardinal points to sprinkle the 
      ragabash further. One time around, and she continues on, starting a 
      second circuit.

Konstantin opens his mouth, when he's sprinkled, like he's trying to catch
      pleasant April showers.

Wears Coyote, all guardlike by the heavy metal front door, watches. Across
      from him, Burly Jean also monitors the activities.

The door starts to open as the ritual goes on. Slowly enough that the guards
      have a chance to see that it's _not_ a Whirling Vortex of Pure Evil 
      trying to get in. Just Salem.

Wears Coyote turns sharply, then halts as he recognizes the interloper.
      Relaxing a little, he moves to one side to allow Salem room to enter.

Second pass finished, Megan does a third, then a fourth, her song rising in
      volume and urgency. Fifth, sixth, seventh, and other people may be 
      feeling the same tension she's been radiating all night. Eighth, then 
      ninth, and she ends up near the door once more, and breaks out into a 
      long howl, which the others may recognize as the time to join in.

Wears Coyote pushes the door firmly shut before joining in, showing far less
      restraint than his usual moot howl. It is not a joyous noise, but a rough 
      and angry complaint.

Salem, after entering, moves to one side; the Walker's expression is tight,
      nigh to teeth-grinding, and there are dark circles under his eyes. Coming 
      in only in time for the final howl, he remains silent, gloved hands 
      pushed deep into his coat pockets.

Jean adds her voice to the cacophany, a dissonant counterpoint to the others.

Signe joins in just after Wears Coyote. The tension radiating out has the Get
      on edge as much as any of the others--maybe more so. Her voice is rough 
      and angry a well, although there is a touch of hungry song to it.

Konstantin joins in the howl too -- and as he continues to howl, his
      contribution drops away, he falls to the ground, writhing and coughing. 
      Thick foul smelling darkness sputter out of his throat, fall to the 
      ground and begin to coalesce into a puddle.

Megan takes another breath and goes into another howl, gesturing to Signe to
      come forward as she watches the bits of darkness erupt from Konstantin 
      and collect. She watches avidly, continuing the howl as long as the stuff 
      is coming out.

Signe takes a step forward to come in line with Megan. Her lips pull back just
      at the sight of whatever it is that comes out of the Shadow Lord. Still 
      holding the torch, the ahroun immediately decides to use it against the 
      darkness. Lunging it forward, she tries to set it on fire.

Konstantin gurgles, still vomiting the darkness. He rolls to his side, gasping
      for breath, when his abdomen distends. The ragabash screams... screams 
      from pain and terror. The skin bursts and a column of inky ichor geysers 
      from the cliath's belly. It splatters across the room, beginning to 
      sizzle and react with whatever it touches. Meanwhile, Konstantin's passed 
      out, his bleeding ripped open guts hanging out on the concrete.

Wears Coyote flinches, his howl cut abruptly short as he whips a hand up to
      cover his face.

Megan's howl cuts off abruptly at the sudden volcano of ichor, and she ducks
      reflexively, an arm going up to shield her eyes. ~Get it Signe! Get it!~ 
      she calls out, herself taking a moment to look for something more 
      tangible than goo to attack.

Salem throws up an arm as Konstantin turns into a fountain of black ichor
      foulness -- like Cutter, saving his face from getting sprayed. As for the 
      rest, well... it's not the first time that coat's had to be dry cleaned.

Konstantin pages to the room: There's kind of this wormy-column like black goo.
      It's wobbling around near Kostya.

Signe was closer than any of the others when Konstantin's stomach erupts. Like
      the others, she extends her free hand instinctively to ward off what she 
      can of the mess. A snarl erupts in answer to Megan's call, the Get 
      already on the offensive. Weilding the torch like a bat now, she attacks 
      the wriggling column of goo with a roundhouse strike.

Not close at all, Cutter wipes the goo off himself as best he can with a
      perfunctory swipe and tries to get a look at the goo-filled arena.

The column wavers and bends under the Get's attack, it begins to coil like a
      spring, and finally it bursts again, the shape disappearing into a shower 
      of chunks reminiscent in the smell, look and texture of vomit from Big 
      Macs. There's a cold draft in the room, an aroma like mead teases, then 
      disappears. Konstantin remains unconscious, bleeding.

Signe once again takes the brunt of the explosion. she stands there, flicking
      mac-vomit-goo off of her and cursing under her breath. "I hate it when 
      that happens." She gives Konstantin a cursory glance but no more and then 
      walks away from the circle.

Salem protects his face as the interior of the bunker get a second coat of goo,
      teeth bared as he chokes off a curseword. Nose wrinkled, the Glass Walker 
      surveys the damage with a disgusted expression, his regard finishing up 
      on the battered, bleeding focus of the ritual.

Megan protects her face once more, then does a quick look around, winding up
      looking at the bleeding ragabash. ~He is improved,~ she says decisively, 
      looking to Cutter with a sense of urgency.

Wears Coyote moves around Salem, nudging him out of the way as he kneels, in
      the goo, next to Konstantin, and attempts to scoop the lounging viscera 
      back into place as he begins his healing.

Konstantin remains blissfully unaware of the proceedings. His guts are
      easily(?) scooped and replaced in his body.

Jean hasn't done much, from her spot against the wall furthest from the door,
      by now, drenched in black goo and reeking like a sewer. She snarls, 
      probably the first time anyone has seen anything worse than a neutral 
      expression on her face. She reaches up a clawed hand to wipe sludge from 
      her face, running it through her hair to clean that as well as possible, 
      too.

Wears Coyote grunts. ~Saw... this done once... ~ he mutters, as flesh begins to
      remold under his touch in a vaguely disquieting manner.

Megan pages to the room: Since cutter is busy healing...I'm going to do Sense
      Balance on everyone on the room, looking for above normal Wyrm taint.

Salem peels off his gloves, one by one, and from somewhere inside his coat
      extracts a handkerchief. With this, he cleans the black crap off his neck 
      and a few other spots, and he watches Cutter work on Kon with a rather 
      disinterested expression.

Megan watches Cutter hawklike, then looks around at the other three. ~Everyone
      else okay?~

~I am fine,~ Jean offers up, scraping slime from her arms and hands.

Konstantin's flesh seems healed, but the young man is still not conscious.

Signe looks like Salem's feminine (well, respectively) bookend. she too spends
      time trying to clean off herself what she can of the leftover mess. The 
      one glance she gives Cutter and Kon is just as disinterested. Megan's 
      question gets her to check herself over more thoroughly. Her answer is a 
      simple nod.

Salem answers with a sort of gruntish squeak. Apart from looking like a sea
      bird after an oil spill, he's fine.

Wears Coyote leans back after a few moments. ~I think he's going to live,~ he
      says simply. ~Thank you.~

Megan nods, the sharpness to it worn of by weariness. ~No, thank you.~ She
      gathers all of them in a glance, and says, ~You all seem okay right now, 
      but this could be a taint which starts small, and festers. If any of you 
      begin feeling sick, like he,~ she jabs a finger towards Konstantin's 
      unconscious body, ~was saying, or in about a week, come find me so we can 
      make sure we are all still okay.~

Salem nods, for the moment giving up on his own personal clean-up; the
      handkerchief is sodden with the stuff that had infected the young Shadow 
      Lord.
Signe grumbles a little as she finds more of the goo on the /inside/ of her
      jacket. Her answer to the Fianna is another simple nod.

Jean echoes Salem's nod, giving up on cleaning up.

Megan grunts acknowledgement, then looks to Salem and Signe. ~Can one of you
      give me a ride back out to the Farmhouse, then?~

Salem looks over at Signe and raises an eyebrow.

Signe catches Salem's look and then gives the Fianna a speculative glance of
      her own. "I can, if you don't mind riding on the back of the Harley."

Wears Coyote looks around the room and sighs. ~I need a hose.~

Megan lets out a deep breath, shrinking back down into homid form, and scrapes
      both hands through her sodden hair to squeege a dull rain of black out. 
      "As long as you don't mind me sliming it."

~I need a bath,~ Jean says, echoing WEars Coyote's tone and cadenc, then giving
      him a toothy smile.

Signe gives herself one more look and snorts in response to Megan. "I think
      it's moot, at this point. I'm gonna need to clean it no matter what. And 
      me. Maybe two or three times. And burn the clothes. C'mon, let's go."

Salem eyeballs Jean and Cutter and smiles thinly.

"Lysol," Megan supplies helpfully, then looks to Salem, saying oddly genlty,
      "Let me know, somehow, if anything *else* like this comes up." Then with 
      a nod to Signe, she makes to follow her out.

Wears Coyote makes a promise to install a shower before the next time he asks
      anybody to lance a Wyrmy boil.

Salem's eyes shifts over to Megan and narrow slightly; he gives the Fianna a
      curt nod.