Into the Woods

[hazlogs]

2 August 2001
Moon Phase: Full

Alicia heads down into the basement after poking around upstairs and finding 
  nothing of interest. "Hey, any Gnawers down here?" She calls out.

Junior is curled up in one corner, where he was apparently reading a book 
  before dozing. He starts awake at the call, and peers over towards the 
  stairs. "Yes?"

Malachi is pacing around the perimeter of the basement, giving Junior plenty 
  of room. He stops and turns toward the stairs at Alicia's hail, but says 
  nothing.

Alicia smiles to the two and heads over. "Hey there Junior, and 
  Bites-Everything." She says in a teasing, cute voice. "Just seeing whats on 
  the up an up. Hey Malachi, you finish up the litany with Kaz?"

Junior blinks, then smiles, looking between Alicia and Malachi. 
  "Bites-Everything?" He grins. "I like that."

Malachi pushes his glasses up his nose, lips thinning. "Yeah, she did." No 
  comment on the nickname.

Alicia grins. "I do too. I think its fitting for him since he says he wants to 
  bite everything around him." She heads over to him and grins. "So, do you 
  think she'll be ok with you going to see the Caern perhaps? Or..?"

Malachi shifts his weight, nodding impatiently. "Yeah. She was /gonna/ do it 
  yesterday, but hadda... I dunno, patrol or somethin'."

Alicia glances over to Junior. "Well... wanna go now?"

Malachi shifts his weight again, bare foot to bare foot. His eyes flick from 
  Alicia to Junior and back again.

Junior nods. "Sounds good to me. It'd do him good to get out of here for a 
  while."

Alicia smiles and glances over to the kid. "Put yer' shoes and and change your 
  undies, cuz' when ya drive with me, you'll definitly shit yer' pants." She 
  winks. "I got the car out front Junior."

Junior hmms at Alicia. "I ought t' get a license one of these days. Just in 
  case."

Alicia nods her head. "Yah, me too."

Malachi rolls his eyes slightly. "Fuck shoes. Don't have 'em anyway. Din' they 
  get messed up?" Now that it looks like he's gonna get out, the kid is 
  impatient as hell.

Junior rolls his eyes. "Oh god. Wonderful." He takes a deep breath, and sighs. 
  "OK. I guess we take our lives into our hands. TRY not to get us pulled 
  over, since the police are probably looking for Malachi now?"
Junior glances at Mal. "Yeah, they did. We gotta find you a new pair."

Alicia grins widely at Junior. "Me? Get pulled over? Pffft.." She trails off 
  as she heads for the stairs.
Alicia vanishes up the stairwell to the sanctuary.
Alicia has left.

Forgotten Church
The old church is dark, dimly lit by outside light coming in through 
  scum-encrusted windows during the day, and tomblike during the night. There 
  is a coatroom in the back of the nave, with separate doors leading off to 
  mens' and womens' restrooms, and two staircases, one going up to the balcony 
  and bell-tower, and the other leading down to the basement. The double doors 
  leading out to the street are at the back of the coatroom.
The hard wooden pews in the sanctuary are, for the most part, still intact. 
  There are even Bibles and hymnals left in the shelves along the back of each 
  row, although many of them look rather chewed on. The altar on a dais at the 
  front of the church is empty, and the lectern that once stood next to it has 
  been knocked over. Rotting red cloth hangs at the very front of the church; 
  there might once have been a design on it, but it has long since faded or 
  been eaten away.

Junior appears at the top of the basement stairwell.
Junior has arrived.

Alicia opens one of the double doors at the back of the church, leaving for 
  the streets.
Alicia has left.

Jermantown Avenue, Industrial Sector
From warehouses a few blocks away from the river, across a chunk of city more 
  than a dozen blocks wide, factories brood over the streets like dark dragons 
  over their piles of treasure, greedy and all-encompassing. Huddling around 
  the factories are smaller, less imposing buildings that are probably 
  warehouses, or storage locations for trucks. The factories spill fumes into 
  the air, darkening the area and blanketing it in a stench to mark 
  humankind's domination over the world. Some of the warehouses stand empty, 
  some are boarded over, and some, on the northern and western fringes of the 
  area, have been converted to bars, with bizarre lighting, frequent brawls, 
  and music that blares loudly at all hours of the night. There are no 
  residences here for anyone to complain, and the factory workers populate the 
  bars thickly. Throughout the area, trash and oil mingle together on alleyway 
  streets, impeding the paths to the dumpsters at the ends of many of the 
  alleys.

Junior comes out of the old church and down the stone steps to the street.
Junior has arrived.

Outside is Tom's brand new shiny red roadster, but for the moment, its 
  Aliica's. She heads over with a wide grin. "Check. That. Out."

Junior winces. "Oh god. 'Arrest me red.'"

Malachi eyeballs the cop car warily, then shoots a glance to the others. 
  "Someone should call my da--" His eyes fall on the car. "Wow."

Alicia takes out the keys and be-boops the car alarm off. "Hey Malachi, my 
  brother works with your dad at Mickey D's. I'll talk ta' em' about it k?" 
  She smiles and unlocks the door, slipping in, then reaches over for the 
  passenger side.

Junior hrms softly at Alicia. "Can you tell if his dad's kin?"

Malachi jerks his head in a nod, satisfied, and all but scrambles into the car.

Alicia shrugs her shoulders to Junior after he gets in. "Um.. I don't know. I 
  knew my brother Ben was cuz' he's my twin. That and I was willing to take a 
  risk and simply go 'rarr' in front of him. Um.. I guess I can ask his dad a 
  few things ya'know.. subtley of course."

Junior gets into the car last, and shuts the door. "Won't help if his dad 
  doesn't know." He shakes his head. "Don't try the 'rarr' test on him. Bad 
  idea."

"He's prob'ly been shittin' himself," says Malachi in an off-handed way. His 
  attention's directed out the windows, and he has difficulty sitting still.

"He probably is kid, any dad would. Ya miss 'em?" Alicia asks, glancing over 
  to Junior and nods, running a finger along her nose. Then, she slips the 
  key's in, throws the car into first and straight roars the engine to life, 
  tires smoking as she burns off the curb.

Malachi twitches visibly at the sudden roar of the engine, lips briefly 
  pulling away from his teeth. Recovering, he shrugs at Alicia. "I dunno. He's 
  kinda pussy. Kinda a fuckin' pushover. But he doesn't yell or shit, I guess 
  he's okay."

Junior nods quietly. "There's lots worse."

Malachi adds, "My mom's a bitch, though."

"Ya should tell 'em ya love 'em." Alicia says, reaching over to tap a CD into 
  place, a stream of techno music coming out of the stereo system. "Cuz 
  ya'know.. ya could die young." Swerving through traffic, Alicia is almost a 
  pro' at this, gears shifting, gas, break, screech of tires, and whooosh, off 
  they go.

Lane
Stretching a good quarter mile from the road, this gravel lane leads back to 
  the Escrowe farm. Trees line the lane, leaves filling out on the limbs to 
  fill the sky with fresh green clouds. In the distance, the farmhouse looms 
  above the treetops, gleaming white as the snow from its yearly coat of 
  paint. Silence prevails here, save for the rustling of the tall grasses in 
  the fields when the wind blows.
The front entrance to the farmhouse is on the porch alongside the gravelled 
  road which continues on around the eastern side of the house back to the 
  barnyard. The opposite end of the lane turns back west to empty out onto 
  Sunrise Road.

Malachi shrugs off the whole 'you could die soon' sentiment with a casualness 
  only the young-and-immortal can pull off with conviction. He's more 
  interested in the car ride -- more importantly, the destination.

The car comes to a screeching stop near the lane that leads up towards the 
  farmhouse, a wide grin plastered along Alicia's face. Listening to the 
  engine die, she murmurs. "Ya'know... I think we hit 115 back there on a 45."

Junior grimaces. "Don't remind me."

Alicia slips off the seatbelt and unlocks the doors, then pushes herself out, 
  grinning. "Anyways kid, get ready for a walk. Welcome to... um.. The Farm."

A twitchy Malachi climbs out of the car, grimacing at the feel of gravel on 
  his bare feet. Still, he's too busy looking around to bother much with the 
  pain. For a moment, he even stands /still/, absorbing the scenery. "...Huh."

Junior gets out of the car, and glances over at Malachi, grinning. "Better?"

Alicia giggles and hips the door shut, then activates the alarm. "If ya gotta 
  throw up, do it now." And with that, she starts heading towards the barnyard.
Alicia continues down the lane, disappearing from sight as she moves around 
  the house.
Alicia has left.

Malachi sniffs, then wipes his arm across his nose. "Quiet," he remarks, then 
  pads off after Alicia, stepping off the gravel and following alongside it.

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. Buildings break up the purity of the landscape: an open-sided 
  structure which serves as a garage and the big barn, empty of livestock, to 
  the east. A good-sized vegetable and herb garden furrows the land south of 
  the barn, while a pyramid-like pile of rocks, of similar consistency to the 
  gravel of the lane, rests a few yards south of the garage.
North of the buildings, the fields have long been fallow, hastening a 
  conversion from farmland to natural prarier. 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.

Alicia continues on through the barnyard and then cuts herself over towards 
  where the woods lay, a huge smile on her face. "Almost there Malachi, if you 
  want, take yer' wolf form, its an easier time."

Junior hmms. "Anybody fix your clothes yet, Mal?"

Malachi hesitates uncertainly at Alicia's suggestion, then shakes his head at 
  Junior.

Alicia shrugs her shoulders and glances over to the kid. "Go ahead an whip 'em 
  off then, I'll carry yer' clothes."

Malachi makes a hesitant 'urrrgh' kind of sound, then sighs. "Okay, but don't 
  look."

Junior turns his back, giving Malachi his privacy.

Alicia grins. "Kid, I'm dating a 24 year old kick boxer who has the biggest.." 
  She trails off. "Heart I've seen in my life.. don't worry, I won't get too 
  hot an bothered off ya." Giggling, she turns around also, nudging Junior in 
  the side.

Malachi skins off his shorts and t-shirt, drops his glasses on top of the 
  pile. Shapeshifting is still, apparantly, difficult for the cub, but after 
  some effort and swearing, he manages to get to wolf form. He utters a 
  churfing yowlp type noise to indicate that it's okay to look.

Junior turns back around, and smiles. "Good work."

Alicia turns around and wolf whistles to him. "Woo Hoo.. Check out that sexy 
  tail." She bends over and picks up his clothes and then continues on into 
  the woods.
Alicia walks through the treeline and into the forest.
Alicia has left.

Junior walks through the treeline and into the forest.
Junior has left.

Bawn: Western Forest
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 hear the distant sounds of the 
  town of Kent's Crossing.

[Alicia leaves.]

Malachi snorts at the remarks, though he's more interested in the environment. 
  The cub follows at a short distance; he keeps stopping to sniff at something 
  interesting -- which is just about everything.

Junior slows down a bit, seeing Malachi's interest. "Nice, huh?" He smiles.

The full moon still pulls at the cub's Rage, that much is obvious. But it's 
  also obvious that there's less driving Malachi to near-frenzy. Lifting his 
  head from a bit of ground, he sneezes and looks back at Junior. Smells good.

Junior grins at the cub. "C'mon. You'll like the Caern, I think." He heads off 
  towards the Caern...still taking his time to let the cub explore.
Junior enters the Caern.
Junior has left.

Down the Valley
The ground tapers here, the valley rising toward the northeast while in every 
  other direction the forest blankets the land. The slope on this side of the 
  valley is much more forgiving, gentle. The forest is not so forgiving, and 
  it is easy to imagine wandering its dark confines for days, lost. The valley 
  is a soothing escape from the neverending forest, and yet the steam and mist 
  that cover the valley floor to the northeast seems almost as dubious.
The valley extends to the northeast, towards the caern.

Junior heads northeast, on up the valley.
Junior has left.


Among the Steam Vents
The ground here is hard and rocky, unlike the greener swath visible through 
  the steam to the north. Small, narrow cracks network the area, steam 
  trickling out of many of them, probably at least partly fed from the stream 
  flowing underground from the east. The warm circulating steam fills the air 
  around here much more thoroughly than most of the rest of the caern, leaving 
  a thin sheen of dampness on almost everything around, and making the rocky 
  ground that much more slippery. Sometimes, a blast of hot steam bursts up 
  from some of the cracks, making the temperature that much the hotter, and 
  that much more uncomfortable.
Through the mists, you can see the caern circling towards the walls of the 
  crevice, north towards the rocky slab; east, you can hear the waterfall; the 
  Wheel's center lies to the northeast. The valley continues towards the 
  southwest.

Junior glances at Malachi. "Steam vents - nice in the winter, cause it's warm. 
  We got a nice waterfall too, if you don't mind the noise."

Biter stops dead upon reaching the bottom of the valley and pricks his ears 
  forward, nose working overtime. Smells... good. Wet. No, it is not too loud. 
  Sounds good, sounds /good/.

Junior nods. "Come into the center first, so you can see the whole thing 
  clearly. Then we'll head to the waterfall. It's great in the summer - the 
  spray's nice." He heads into the center of the Caern.
Junior heads into the center.
Junior has left.

Biter follows briskly, his tail starting to wave back and forth. This is what 
  laws talk about? This place?

Junior nods. "Come into the center first, so you can see the whole thing 
  clearly. Then we'll head to the waterfall. It's great in the summer - the 
  spray's nice." He heads into the center of the Caern.
Junior heads into the center.
Junior has left.

Biter follows briskly, his tail starting to wave back and forth. This is what 
  laws talk about? This place?

Center of the Caern
This area of the clearing is about 30 meters wide and is a mixture of dark 
  soil and clay throughout, though much of it looks like it's been sodded in 
  recent months. Near the center of the clearing, the top of a large white 
  boulder juts out from the soil like a bone revealed after the skin of an 
  animal has been torn away. The large rock appears to be normal stone at its 
  base, but towards the top stone gives way to a sparkling collection of 
  quartz crystal.
Around you, twenty yards in every direction, stretches the caern. To the 
  southeast, a waterfall plummets over the edge of the chasm into a small pool 
  in the caern; nearby, to the southwest, steam comes from cracks in the 
  ground, perhaps some of the same water. Northwest, a rocky spar juts out of 
  the ground at a low angle, showing a sloping but smooth top. The chasm walls 
  narrow a bit to the northeast, causing some of the mist to swirl in that 
  area.

Junior nods down at the cub. "Yeah. This is the Caern. It's sacred to us."

Biter pads around the center of the caern, then pauses to sniff at the tall 
  boulder jutting out of the ground, fascinated.

Junior grins, seeing that Malachi seems in a much better mood out here. "We 
  hold the moots here - where all of the Garou in the area who belong to the 
  Sept - the members of this Caern - get together."

Biter looks up from his inspection of the central boulder. Many?

Junior nods to Biter. "Quite a few. We're a pretty damned big place, compared 
  t' some."

Biter's ears flick back, then forward. More? Other places?

Junior nods. "There are other Caerns. Not around here, but scattered across 
  the world."

Biter turns away and pads around the boulder again. Upon completing a circuit, 
  he looks back up at Junior again. Many?

Junior hmms softly. "There used to be a lot, long ago. Quite a few have fallen 
  to the Wyrm over the centuries, or other forces. There's not nearly as many 
  as we'd like."

Biter flattens his ears and looks around. Restless -- though without that air 
  of desperation he showed in the church basement -- he trots away a bit, then 
  jogs in a circle around the caern.

Junior smiles. "Want t' head over an see the falls up close?"

Biter replies without words. Instead, the cub puts on a burst of speed and 
  races toward the waterfall.

By the Waterfall
The edge of the valley forms a sheer rock face on this side of the Caern, 
  perhaps 10 meters straight up, studded with outcroppings and lined with 
  narrow cracks in a tracery of spidery fractures. Over the top lip of this 
  natural wall streams a narrow, glass-like sheet of water that hurls itself 
  into a small pool at its base, throwing up spray to soak the stones there, 
  the rock behind it, and the surrounding earth. From this pool the water 
  flows in a shallow bed toward the southwest before disappearing below the 
  surface of the earth again in what must be an underground stream.
To the west, cool mist kicked up by the falls mingles with warmer steam from 
  geothermal sources; these mists swirl around the caern to the north. The 
  caern's center lies northwest of here. You can pick out what seems to be a 
  hazardous trail over rock and up the wall, to the side of the waterfall.

At the center, Junior heads southeast, towards the waterfall.
Junior approaches the waterfall from the center of the caern.
Junior has arrived.
Junior wanders after the cub, a bit slower. He takes a deep breath of the 
  misty air around the falls. "I love it here."

Biter stumbles to a graceless halt at the edge of the pool and lowers his head 
  to sniff at the water. He extends his nose a little too far and jerks his 
  head back, snorting water. Stepping back, the cub looks up at Junior, 
  looking dubious at his statement. Dubious and puzzled. Why other place, 
  then? With bad smells?

Junior shrugs. "Because I like it there, too. And....we're needed there as 
  well as here. The Wyrm breeds in the city. If we weren't there, it'd be a 
  lot worse. An' us Gnawers try t' help the people who need it, too - the ones 
  that can't afford stuff, or are down on their luck."

Biter flattens his ears and looks away. He expells air in a frustrated 'hrff' 
  sound and paws at the ground.

Junior watches Biter. "I know you don't like it in the city. But we can't 
  ignore it. Us Gnawers and the Walkers work the best in the cities." He 
  sighs. "Still...it's nice t' get out and smell the clean air now and again, 
  too."

Kaz comes down the trail from the rim above.
Kaz has arrived.

Junior grins, seeing Kaz, and waves.

Kaz, ambling down the path as she is, grins back and calls, "Yo," giving the 
  wolf in front of her a dubious look. Evidently, she hasn't seen his eyes yet.

Biter's ears prick; he looks up at the new arrival and makes a vague chuffing 
  noise in greeting. His tail waves once, and then he pads a short distance 
  away, restless as always and suddenly distracted by some smell over *there* 
  at another part of the pool-shore.

Junior grins at Kaz. "You seen Bites-Everything in wolf form yet?"

Kaz blinks. "Oh. Dude. Rock my world. How you doin', Malachi?"

Biter examines that little bit of ground at the edge of the pool for a moment 
  longer, then sneezes and looks up. He hesitates, then leaves the spot to pad 
  back to the two Gnawers. Good. Good. Many, much better.

Kaz says, with satisfaction, "Thought so." She glances over at Junior. "I was 
  thinkin' of parkin' him at the Farmhouse f'th' duration..." She trails off, 
  and explains, to Malachi now, "Since then you can hang out /here/ all you 
  want, see."

Junior nods to Kaz. "Good idea. He can meet other cubs, and I think he'd be a 
  lot more relaxed out here." He grins back at Malachi.

Biter shifts his weight a little, back and forth, on his front paws. He looks 
  from Kaz to Junior, hesitating as he gropes for words. Thing you said. For 
  changing. That... that /things/ not rip.

Kaz waggles a finger. "Got that. Wanna do it now?"

Junior smiles, and offers Kaz the clothes and glasses he's carrying. "Here ya 
  go."

Kaz takes them, and sets them down on a rock. "Mal, could you do me a weird 
  assed favor? I gotta bind these to you, right? So I need something that's 
  /yours/. That's /part/ of you. So I promise, it'll basically fade away and 
  you won't even smell it, but could you pee on 'em a little?"

Biter stares at Kaz. Just that, stares, as though this were the /strangest/ 
  thing he's been told since his kidnapping. /What/?

Junior hmms at Kaz. "Blood could work too, right?"

Kaz sighs. "Pee on them. See, what I do, I apply all of the four elements to 
  whatever you want to bind to yourself. Earth, air, fire, and water. And 
  /somehow/, you gotta put /part/ of yourself into the clothing, make sure it 
  understands it's gonna bind to /you/. So yeah, like Junior says, blood could 
  work, or pee, but y'gotta do somethin', anyway."

Biter flattens his ears, indecisive. After a moment's inner debate, the cub 
  shakes himself and decides. Blood is hurt. Will pee.

Kaz says, "Awright. I'll tell y'when. Get over by y'clothes, huh?" She 
  crouches by the pool and cups a handful of water in her hands, beginning a 
  low, quiet humming. Eventually, she starts moving, sprinkling the water in a 
  circle around cub and clothes, still humming. Once she's circled around him 
  once, she bends down and scoops some dirt up, sprinkling it on the clothes. 
  She nods at him, then, as she continues to hum.

Junior watches quietly, though with interest.

Biter, looking more than a little disgusted -- damn those human social mores 
  -- stands up when nodded to and lifts a hind leg, marking the pile of 
  clothes in that distinctly canine way.

Kaz cheerfully rubs the dirt into the liquid, and then takes a lighter out of 
  her pocket. Still humming, she runs the clothes under the flame briefly, 
  snaps them (and the glasses) upwards in one melodramatic movement, and, as 
  she proffers them to Malachi, cuts the humming off into an echoing silence.

Biter blinks once or twice, ears askew in puzzlement. His head cocks. No more 
  to do? Thing is done?

Kaz shrugs. "Try 'em on. You gotta build power, is the thing, which is why I 
  was humming, introduce 'em to the four elements, an' bind 'em to you in some 
  way, which is what you did. I mean, you gotta know /why/ you're doin' it and 
  /how/, on a deeper level, but the Rite itself is fairly straightforward."

Smokes-the-Weed comes down the trail from the rim above.
Smokes-the-Weed has arrived.

Biter continues to look dubious, but he gives the best lupine approximation of 
  a shrug and reverts to human form, pulling on the shorts and t-shirt as 
  quickly as humanly possible.

Smokes-the-Weed pads into the Caern, a lollipop in his mouth. Yes, in Lupus. 
  Damn rules. The dog comes slowly down the familiar trail, at a leisurely 
  pace.

Kaz politely looks away, and manages to catch Joey appearing. "Hey, you." She 
  looks back once Mal's done, and murmurs, "Shift back, now. See if it worked."

Junior looks away as Malachi dresses as well.

Smokes-the-Weed looks up as he hears Kaz's voice, then turns his gaze to the 
  kid she's speaking to. He freezes, watching, as if there is something, some 
  final bit of proof, that he needs to see. A clacking noise is heard as 
  Smokey runs the half-eaten lollipop along his teeth.

Something clicks in Kaz's mind, too, and she adds, to Joey, remarkably calmly, 
  "And no whuppin' on him f'free."

Malachi frowns, eyeballing the dog with the lollipop warily, though with no 
  recognition. Then he nods to Kaz and slowly struggles his way back to wolf 
  form. The clothing grows bigger, then vanishes into his fur.

Smokes-the-Weed's ears lift, right after he rolls his eyes at Kaz. He's seen 
  what he needs to see. He takes a step back, and slowly shifts upward, until 
  Joey appears, with the candy in his mouth. "Fuckin' A," he mutters. 
  Understatement.
Smokes-the-Weed contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Smokes-the-Weed shifts into Homid form.

Junior nods quietly to Joey. "Heya."

Kaz watches this carefully. Very carefully.

Biter flattens his ears, hackles rising along his neck. He growls briefly, and 
  then suddenly pops back into homid. "I /tol'/ Junior the truth," he tells 
  Joey, almost before the shift is finished. "S'not my fault he wouldn' leave 
  me 'lone, okay?" Kid sounds a little defensive.

"I know," Joey says, unmoving. But, those close enough can see his back 
  muscles tense up, as if prepping for the worst. He takes the lollipop out of 
  his mouth. "Junior told me about what happened." He tilts his head to the 
  side, seeing the shifted Mal. "But, some shit is bigger'n any of us, 
  regardless of what we think of each other. This is one of those shits."

Malachi folds his arms across his chest, hands cupping the opposite elbow. He 
  continues to eye Joey with mingled wariness and suspicion; if the Gnawer is 
  tense, the cub is moreso. "Yeah, okay."

Kaz stretches her neck. It pops.

Junior chews his lip, watching Joey and Malachi closely until it's clear 
  neither one's about to do anything dumb, then he relaxes a little.

Kaz looks from one to the other, and then, finally, relaxes. "Y'all scuse me," 
  she mutters, "Patrol," and heads back up the path.

Joey lets out a breath. "Past is past," he says. "And while part of me still 
  wants to bash your head in, I won't. You Are A Gnawer," he adds, letting 
  those last words fall like hammers. "The rest of 'em have faith in you, but 
  I still gotta be convinced. One thing above all of it is that Gnawers stand 
  up for each other. That's fucking Law, and no think Elan decided to set up. 
  It's older'n both of us, and will be 'round long after we're both dead." He 
  takes another breath. "Now, we can do this the easy way, and call a 
  cease-fire here and now, and we both get on with our lives, which in some 
  freaky way are now linked. Or, we can't, and we'll both be a waste of space 
  in doing it."

Malachi's eyes narrow at the 'you are a Gnawer' part of Joey's speech, but he 
  says nothing until the other finishes. Then hunched shoulders jerk into a 
  curt shrug. "I ain't gonna fight you, if that's what y'askin'. Far's I'm 
  concerned, y'can do whatever, I don' care. But..." His eyes flick away from 
  Joey to Junior, and then back again. "...Far as *I* c'n see, I ain't a 
  Gnawer. I don' look like you guys, an' I don' want nothin' t'do with that 
  city, 'less it means blowin' it th' fuck up."

Joey shrugs it off. "City ain't going anywhere. And Gnawers don't have...a way 
  to look like each other. Best way I c'n explain it. Ain't gonna fight you 
  either. We got a Wyrm ready to make us all very dead, so we ain't got the 
  time."

Malachi's mouth twists into a grimace. "Yeah, th' Wyrm." His eyes drop away 
  from Joey again, moving shiftily about the caern.

It is not unusual at all to hear howling, especially this close to the caern. 
  So, this one, long and clear and strong is nothing out of the norm. Except, 
  perhaps, that one may gain the distinct impression that someone is trying to 
  howl and also sing along with "Yellow Submarine". Stranger things have 
  happened. Maybe. There's a gangly, scruffy Garou in Crinos strolling up the 
  path to the waterfall, half-curled tail wagging behind her, nose tilted up 
  to the air. Anneka. Otter.


Joey recognizes the tune, of all things. He looks over his shoulder, and his 
  mood changes entirely. He beams, looking almost like a youngster again. 
  "Hey, you," he calls out to the girl.

The song trails off to a few sharp barks. Hello, hello! Otter's toes splay out 
  as she lopes up the steep path, her stride made longer for her lanky limbs 
  and outsized hands and feet. She draws to a stop as she crests the path 
  nearby, and settles down on her haunches. Her ears are up, her muzzle parted 
  in the lupine grin. ~Hey, hi.~

Junior nods to the newcomer, amd somes.

Joey walks over, ruffling the Halfmoon behind the ears. "You know the others," 
  he asks, indicating the ever-so-silent duo over there. "JUnior I'm sure 
  you've seen around. The other one's one of our new ones."

Malachi eyes the Crinos warily; between that and Joey's arrival, most of the 
  mood-lightening seems to have leeched away from the recalitrant cub. Tense, 
  he pushes his hands into his pockets and moves back a step or two, closer to 
  the water.

Otter cants her huge head and skews an ear, coincidentally making that 
  ruffling a bit easier. ~I know them both.~ Big yellow lantern eyes glance at 
  Malachi and the cub's lupine smile almost grows sympathetic before the cub's 
  form blurs, growing smaller and skinnier and much more human. Anneka stands, 
  brushes her knees off, and grins at Mal.

Malachi relaxes; at the same time, he seems a mite peeved. "Oh, it's you. Th' 
  Chinese food."

Joey lets the cubs talk. "Ok, need to find a girl about a pack," he says to 
  Junior. "I'm heading out."

Anneka rocks back on her heels and nods. "Yup." She reaches up to brush her 
  sandy hair away from bright green eyes, then settles down on her haunches on 
  a broad, flat stone. There's echoes of the wolf there, still, and her 
  fingers even curl a little. She grins though, waves to Joey. "G'night!"

Malachi has, unsurprisingly, no friendly farewells to give to Joey. Turning, 
  the cub sits down at the edge of the pool, his heels resting in the very 
  shallows.

Joey, with that, turns and goes.
Joey has left.

Junior nods to Joey as he heads out. "Later, Joey."

Anneka glances off towards the waterfall, her eyes slowly growing blurred and 
  hazy, like the mist gathering where the water hits the pool. Her grin gets a 
  little softer around the edges, too. "Hey, how long y'been out here?" She 
  looks over to Malachi, though her gaze retains that same odd distance.

Malachi shifts his glance sidelong, toward Anneka. "Jus' came out here t'day," 
  he tells her, his manner a mite reserved. "'Licia drove me 'n Junior out 
  here."

Junior nods. "Talk about life-threatening experiences..."

Anneka rocks forward on her heels, stands enough to scoot close to the water's 
  edge and settle down. She starts working at her shoelaces with skinny, 
  nimble fingers. "I bet. 'Licia's livin' it up." The cub's head tilts an 
  inch. "Least, that's how I think y'say it. I come out here a whole lot, Mal. 
  It's-- real important."

Malachi mutters, "Well... yeah." As if that were the most obvious thing in the 
  world. Leaning back on his hands. "There's a whole law about it 'n shit, 
  after all."

Junior smiles at Malachi's words, and nods.

Anneka tugs her feet free and splays her toes out before setting her shoes 
  aside. "Yup," the girl says, a corner of her mouth turned up in a faint 
  grin. She sticks her feet in the water. "Woof-- cold."

Malachi smirks a little, for just a moment. "Yeah."

Junior smiles. "Helps cool the place off."

Anneka grins as she rocks forward, watches her reflection waver on the pool's 
  surface. "Me'n Little Bear found a real cool tree 'round here, once. I'll 
  hafta show ya sometime-- It's a redwood." She turns her head to glance back 
  at Junior, smiles.

Junior arches an eyebrow, and grins. "A redwood? Really? Cool!"

Malachi tilts his head to watch the other two in a sidelong kind of way, 
  listening quietly.


"I hugged it," the girl says. "Well, part of it. It was a real big tree." Her 
  hair trails down over her eyes, much like it might for a certain metis 
  Galliard. A total coincidence, of course. "It's a long walk-- like half a 
  day from here, if'n you're not wolfin' it."

Junior smiles, grinning at Anneka. "Sounds like it might be worth seeign, 
  though."

"What form?" Malachi asks Anneka. "When y'hugged it?"

Anneka pulls her feet from the water, curling up to wrap her arms about her 
  legs as she does. "Yup. Just gotta remember t'bring a sandwich, or catcha a 
  rabbit 'long th'way, or somethin'." Her feet get a glance. "Just human me, 
  'cause that's what I was 'n all."

Malachi says, "Oh." His brow furrows. "So... this was b'fore you changed?"

Anneka grins, bright and sunny. "Nope. This was after an' th'tree's on 
  th'Bawn, so it wouldn't have been good for a human t'be here." She reaches a 
  foot out to toe at the water, grins a bit more at the quiet splash. "When 
  I'm wearin th'human form, I just say I'm human-- Though it's just one shape, 
  homid. You know 'bout th'shapes, right?"

Malachi shifts his weight, lips thinning. "Yeah. I c'n even do it, though it's 
  hard."

Anneka nods. "It was real hard for me, at first. It hurt." She pulls her 
  shoulders up into a shrug. "It gets easier though." She stretches her arms 
  out, lets her form flow to Glabro, slow and easy, then back. "It usedta 
  sound like stuff was breakin' when I changed. D'no why, but it doesn't now."

Malachi, truth be told, looks a touch envious. "Doesn't hurt f'me. It's just 
  hard."

Anneka glances at Malachi, sidelong, then nods again. "Yeah. It'll get easier, 
  though." She grins and starts to tug her shoes on. "I practice a lot, all 
  sortsa weird stuff-- Like changin' while doin' a handstand or runnin'. 
  Sometimes changin' after I went an' fell on my butt. Practicin's like that."

Junior chuckles softly, and nods.

Malachi mutters, "Yeah," and lies back, hands behind his head. Despite the 
  reclining posture, the cub still doesn't look entirely relaxed.

Anneka laces her shoes up and tugs the tattered cuffs of her jeans down, damp 
  from the pool. "I've gotta go f'now, though. Haven't talked t'Little Bear 'n 
  a while, so-- 's time t'visit." She grins at the pair, then blurs down to 
  lupus. Her tail wags twice.

Malachi stares up at the night sky. "See ya," he mutters, rather sullenly.

Junior nods. "See ya."

Otter twirls about until she can touch her nose to Malachi's shoulder, then 
  wags her tail once more before loping up along the trail and into the woods. 
  Goodnight!

Malachi lapses into silence, deep in thought. The foot still partially in the 
  water wiggles back and forth on occasion.

Junior watches Malachi, and smiles. "Did you like the look of the farmhouse?"

"Huh?" Malachi tilts his head enough to peer up at Junior. "Yeah."

Junior nods. "In a little bit, I'll take ya back there. They've got plenty of 
  room for cubs, and you can raid the kitchen." He grins. "I loved staying 
  there as a cub. Plenty of food - a big change at the time." He hmms. "You'll 
  have to do some chores around the place, but it's nothing bad. Everybody 
  chips in."

Malachi pulls a face at mention of chores, but instead of commenting on it, he 
  asks, "How many cubs? 'Sides me and... um, the girl that was here b'fore."

Junior hmms. "Right now? Not sure, really. There's bound to be at least a few. 
  There always are."

Malachi asks, "What 'bout ones that ain't cubs?"

Junior nods. "There are some of them, too. The farmhouse tends t' attract a 
  lot of people. It's a good place t' stop if ya wanna be close t' the Caern 
  but with a roof over your head."

"How many?" asks the cub.

Junior hmms. "Well...I hadn't been dropping by lately, but..." he considers. 
  "I'd say there's usually three or four noncubs there at any one time. Though 
  it varies."

Malachi grimaces impatiently. "Actually, I meant completely. At th' farmhouse, 
  in th' city, stuff like that."

Junior hmms. "Total, ya mean?" He chews his lip, thinking a moment. "All told, 
  I'd say we had something like eighty or ninety. I don't know 'em all, of 
  course. That's including all the tribes, and the cubs."

Malachi blinks, shooting a sideways glance to Junior before turning his gaze 
  back to the sky. "...Wow."

Junior nods. "We're big. Way big. Most caerns have a lot less, and are usually 
  only a few tribes. We got 'em all."
Junior smiles at the cub. "You ready t' head back t' the farm?"

Malachi replies with a vague 'mm' noise, then says, "Yeah." He gets up and 
  stretches.

Junior nods, and starts up the trail. "This way. Shift back t' wolf if it's 
  easier for ya."

[Back to the farmhouse.]

Farmhouse: Hallway and Living Room
All doorways in the front part of the house lead to the front hallway, a 
  J-shaped area with the short tail starting at the stairs, the front door 
  hitting the bottom curve, the doorless opening to the living room halfway up 
  the long side, and the also doorless opening to the kitchen and dining room 
  at the very top. The hall has a simple wooden floor, and decorated with a 
  generic print of soft-colored flowers hanging on the wall to the right of 
  the front door, and a tall table sitting under the print which serves as a 
  place to toss keys. A closet under the stairs serves as a place to hang 
  coats or to toss shoes.
The doorless opening to the living room is halfway up the side of the hall's 
  J, and the word cozy might spring to mind when looking into is, as it seems 
  to radiate comforting vibrations. A long couch sits against the south wall 
  beneath a large bay window curtained only by sheers that manages to obscure 
  the view in but only filters the day's light. A variety of out-of-date 
  magazines are strewn atop a low coffee table; more neatly presented are the 
  plethora of books filling the small bookshelves which line the eastern wall. 
  Three chairs sit about the room, focused inward, to allow group 
  conversations. Large floor pillows are stacked in one corner of the room, 
  except one, which lies carelessly in the middle of the floor, apparently 
  left out the last time it was used.
An opening in the northern end of the hallway allows access to the kitchen and 
  dining room at the back of the house, while carpeted stairs twist up at the 
  other end of the hall, leading to the second floor. A door at the base of 
  the J lets out to the front porch.

Junior grins. "There's places t' stay upstairs. Or you can sleep in the barn 
  if ya want. The hay's comfortable."

Malachi nods, stifling a yawn. "'Kay."

Junior looks at the cub. "If ya meet anyone here, be polite. Make sure they're 
  Garou before you tell them about you. Anyone you meet here SHOULD be, but no 
  sense taking changes."

Malachi wrinkles his nose slightly, but nods without further comment.