"First lupe gets hooked on crack and your ass is mine."

[hazlogs]

It is currently 18:14 Pacific Time on Wed May 28 1997.
Currently on this breezy and warm spring twilight in the general St. Claire 
  area, it is 66 degrees Fahrenheit (18.9 degrees Celsius). The wind is coming 
  from the east-southeast at 5.1 mph. The ground is wet. Skies are clear with 
  a definite chance of precipitation.
Currently the moon is in the waning Half Moon phase (53% full).

Erik steps past the trees and into the compound, pausing to turn his head, 
  glancing warily around.
Falcon's Wing continues watching from the edge of the clearing, apparently 
  feeling less than social.
Dillan just happens to plod up to the clearing right near where Falcon'sWing 
  has decided he's going to be antisocial. Too bad for him. "Yo, Derrick, 
  holmes! S'up?"
Falcon's Wing blinks mildly at Dillan. Hello. Long time no see. I'm just 
  resting for a bit, he explains, tail swishing the ground lazily.
Dillan crouches to scritch Derrick 'tween the ears. "Yuh-huh. Your usual 
  slack-ass self," he teases.
Dusty pciks idly at the strings, even fingering a chord ortwo,but apparently 
  isn't in the mood to play just now. After a few minutes, he hands the guitar 
  back to Elan, commenting, "Beautiful."
Dylan takes his attention from Dusty long enough to smile warmly at Erik, and 
  then to see Dillan. He nods a polite greeting to the young man, with 
  something faintly speculative in his gaze.
Falcon's Wing whurfs in amusement. That's it. Sitting around doing nothing. 
  How have you been?
Elan glances over and smiles at Derrick, and waves, then turns back to Dusty 
  and watches the younger man's technique.
Erik ducks his head slightly and picks his way toward the others, his 
  attention captured by the hint of music.
Dillan scruffles Derrick's neck vigorously before standing up and greeting the 
  others present. "Yo, kids. What's the scoop?"
Dylan smiles at Dillan. "We were just speaking about you."
Dillan acts all aghast. "Me? Why, whatevah fo?"
Elan waves to Dillan. "Well, we seem to have gotten Blinks to walk and 
  handshake properly. You'll wanna check him out some more, though. I talked 
  to Star-Dancer today - she's really anxious to go."
Falcon's Wing wonders, go where?
Dillan nods, and grins at Elan. "We seem to have, yeah. Did he at least clean 
  himself up? And yeah, seems she's almost too anxious about everything." He 
  glances down at Falcon's Wing, "The great wide yonder, gee. Takin' the lupes 
  on a field trip to the 'hood."
Dylan looks curiously at Dillan. "Would you consider taking on a homid 
  student, perhaps?"
Erik sits down, pulling his knees to his chest and tilting his head toward 
  Dillan, quizzically.
Falcon's Wing blinks a few times. Mind if I come along? This sounds 
  interesting.
Falcon's Wing contorts and blurs as he is transformed.
Falcon's Wing shifts into Homid form.
Dillan blinks. "Er. Yeah, ain't no reason not to..." He shrugs, a bit 
  surprised at the request, perhaps. "Welcome aboard. You too, D. You're 
  officially my deputy for the trip, or somethin'."
Derrick grins, obviously both amused and interested by the idea. "This gonna 
  be just Blinks an' Star Dancer... And Dylan," he adds, after a moment, "Or 
  are more folks gonna be in on it?"
A certain amount of wistfulness expresses itself in Erik's body language, but 
  the Fianna shakes his head quickly.
Elan chuckles. "I'll step up patrolling for a couple nights before, and listen 
  for any trouble. You gonna stick to the park area, downtown and northside?"
Dylan nods slowly. "I have...little enough call to be proficient in the city, 
  but it occurred to me that I am ill-equiped to speak with human authority 
  figures, now, and that that might become a problem. Is that something you 
  can help me with?"
Elan looks over to see how Dusty is doing.
Dillan hms. "NAh, I think there was someone else mentioned wanting to come 
  along, and I'm gonna drag Stormy along wether dude wants to or not. Like 
  it'l be hard to convince him."
Dusty hands the guitar back to Elan and, becoming acutely aware of the number 
  of people in the compound, stands.
Elan takes his guitar back from Dusty, and strums it a bit. A soft foxfire of 
  light flickers at his pick, as his picks flute and guitar chords 
  simultaneously from the instrument. He smiles as he picks out a tune, then 
  looks over to Dylan. "You wanna have a go at it?"
Hands shoved in her pockets, Cassandra strolls down the trail and walks 
  immediately over to the fire.
Still grinning slightly, Derrick does a slight doubletake at Cassandra's 
  entrance. "Whoa. Aren't you off being Heroic and Daring in the Umbra 
  somewhere?"
Dylan looks over and nods to Cassandra, then hesitates, reaching out for the 
  guitar, though he is still waiting for an answer from Dillan. He accepts the 
  instrument from Elan with distracted reverence.
Erik lifts his head from his knees, turning to regard the new arrival with a 
  hint of wariness.
Cassandra seems unusually subdued as she plops down in a free seat by the 
  fire. "Yeah, but we're back, thank the Mother. Sup?"
Dillan looks to see what Derrick's talking about, and blinks. Absently, he 
  nods, replying to dylan. "Sure thing, gee. I planned on makin' sure the 
  lupes could come off as not sounding like total dweebs. Might be important 
  some day."
Dusty offers Cassandra a hesitant smile, and seems to want to ask a question. 
  He doesn't speak, however, and quickly slips off into the forest.
Derrick takes a moment to look at her intently. "Not a lot. Dillan there's 
  gonna teach some lupes how, yeah, that, not to be total dweebs. Um. Other 
  stuff. We're not gonna have anymore apparitions in the Caern, Stormy and his 
  pack fixed it. God, I dunno what's old news to you and what's new. How /you/ 
  doin'?"
Dillan beams proudly. "Yeah, I'm doin' my bit to help our Gaia's warriors. 
  Never know when needin' to survive in the city for a bit'll come in handy."
Dylan nods, and turns his full attention to the guitar. He fits his hands 
  around it hesitantly, as though it has been a very long time since he did 
  such a thing. He touches a string, another, sounding them lightly, catching 
  their tuning against each other. He discovers that two of the nails on his 
  left hand are too long and bites them down, tests one chord almost silently, 
  then another, then a third. And slowly the process of acquaintance-making 
  blends into music, very quiet, explorative.
Cassandra raises an eyebrow atthat, and shoots a -look- at Dillan. "Good fer 
  you. First lupe gets hooked on crack and your ass is mine." She pays the 
  matter no further heed.
Elan puts his hands on his knees and listens to Dylan's playing, but still 
  trying to keep a half-ear on the rest of the compound talk.
Erik sits up, head turning toward Dylan, suddenly alert.
Dillan hmms at Cass. "Okay. I'll skip that part of what I'd had planned." He 
  doesn't seem to pay much heed to her, either.
Cassandra puts her elbows on her knees and rubs at her temples. "How's long's 
  it been, anyway? Fuck time, I'm still gettin' used to the idea of solid 
  ground again."
One side of Cassandra's mouth tugs up into a wry smile. "Can't help you there. 
  Maybe Quiet knows. I think it was sometime around May 1st. What's today?"
Dylan's fingers stumble a few times, as he adjusts to the twelve strings, but 
  not many. Slowly he starts to smile, seemingly aware of nothing except the 
  guitar. His first explorations blend into an adaptation of an Irish reel, 
  half-time at first, then picking up speed. It doesn't quite sound like 
  guitar music, but it seems to work.
Erik tilts his head to the other side, birdlike, as though he recognizes the 
  tune, or the basis for it.
Derrick says "The, uh, 28th. It's been awhile. Y'all... we've been kinda 
  nervous for you."
Elan nods to Cassandra, still keeping most of his attention on Dylan.
Cassandra blinks, apparently surprised and maybe even pleased. She grins 
  openly. "We all made it, and even got what we were looking for. Now I hope 
  we get rid of the thing."
Derrick says "What the hell were you guys lookin' for, anyway? Only thing I 
  ever got out of anything was 'Some Wyld Fetish or something'."
Cassandra stares into the fire, musingly and still somewhat subdued. She 
  winces just slightly as she shifts her position on the log and answers, "You 
  know the caern's kinda fucked up, like a windshield that's whole but cracked 
  when you throw a rock at it, right?"
Derrick says "That would be a yes."
Dillan sorta hangs around, quiet. He listens idly to Cass and Derrick, and 
  Dylan.
Leaning his head closer to the strings, as though they are telling him what to 
  do, Dylan begins picking out a counterpoint to the reel, nearly an octave 
  below it. Slowly the counterpoint line gains power while the original melody 
  loses it, until he is playing something wholly new - the two lines become 
  three, blurring until they are indistinguishable as sepearate lines and then 
  springing clear again as four, a wild dance of notes that rise in a vivid 
  whirl until they peak. Then Dylan's palm goes flat across the strings,muting 
  them in an instant. In the silence that follows, he picks out, slow and 
  sweet, one single phrase from the original reel, and then lets the strings 
  go silent again.
Cassandra nods. "Brian's job for us was to find a way to fix it. That's what 
  we were lookin' for. Jade says it should help.." She trails off and looks up 
  at Dylan, studying him curiously.
Erik leans closer toward the Stargazer, holding his breath and keeping quite 
  still.
Dylan exhales and leans back, closing his eyes for a moment. Then he opens 
  them, and holds the guitar out to Elan with a crooked smile.
Derrick becomes fully aware of Dylan's playing only after he ends it, turning 
  slowly to look at him.
Elan listens, rapt, to Dylan's expertise. Eyes half-closed in almost an exact 
  duplication of Dusty's music-trance, he soaks up the notes, memorizing them. 
  He blinks as the reel ends, and takes back the guitar. He blushes a bit. 
  "I.. might try something that good.."
Dylan says, "It's a good guitar."
Erik shakes himself, shuddering back into the present.
Dylan realizes that everyone seems to be looking at him and smiles a little 
  uncertainly, hovering at the brink of a blush.
Elan picks a soft tune. A foxfire glow flashes up one of the strings as the 
  fetish greets it's attuner. Elan's fingers draw a languid ballad-type air 
  from the guitar, with a flute backup. It's a variant on 'Tam Lin', and he 
  plays it with a calm expertise. He brings in a soft, distant drum 
  counterpoint, his fingering becoming very, very complex. Sweat starts to 
  bead his brow, but he seems quite happy.
Dylan's eyes widen as he realizes Elan is drawing flute music as well as 
  guitar from the instrument, and he turns his full attention back to the 
  strings, and the bone gnawer's hands.
Derrick drags his focus back to Cassandra, though he's evidently half 
  listening to Elan. "So what /did/ you bring back?"
Blinks-at-Fire enters the compound.
Blinks-at-Fire has arrived.
"A fetish," Cassandra answrs simply. "We dunno what it does yet, except that 
  it's pure Wyld and it attracts Weaver critters. Don't ever fuck with a 
  Pattern Spider," she adds gratuitously.
Derrick mutters "Pure Wyld? Hey, maybe Maddy can turn silver again," and then 
  assures the Fury, "I'll try and avoid it. Everyone ok?"
Elan manages a nod to Cassandra by way of agreement and comes perilously close 
  to muffing a key-change. His music spirals up into a more modern 
  interpretaion of the ballad, and then shifts to 'Thomas the Rhymer', done in 
  soft, almost eletric tones. A soft horn sounds in the music, as he continues.
Blinks-at-Fire trots over to see what Cassandra is talking about. He gives 
  Dylan a deep respectful nod, and acknowledges Derrick, Elan, and Dillan with 
  brief eye contact.
Jeau enters the compound.
Jeau has arrived.
Cassandra nods. "Yeah, pretty much. Tired, though."
Seeker enters the compound.
Seeker has arrived.
Jeau shuffles in, whistling.
Dillan flicks a bored wave to Blinks.
Dylan looks away from Elan long enough to nod to Blinks, then looks back at 
  the guitar. He seems to be trying to understand what strings, or what 
  motions or /what/ brings the other instruments into the music, as he watches 
  Elan's fingers like a cat at a mousehole.
Blinks-at-Fire looks to see if Cassandra is carrying the thing she spoke of. 
  This one saw a place both Weaver and Wyld, he says.
Derrick nods. "I 'magine you are. Welcome back, though..." He grins down at 
  Blinks in greeting, and gives Jeau a vague wave.
Cassandra is not carrying it, at least not visibly. "It's Wyld, but it 
  attracts Weaver like flies to honey."
Talks_to_Ghosts has connected.
Seeker nods a greeting.
Blinks-at-Fire looks up to Elan. Can you guess, Gnawer, what is both Wyld and 
  Weaver?
Blinks-at-Fire gives Dillan and Derrick a conspiratorial look.
Talks_to_Ghosts pads into the compound and looks around at the occupants.
Dillan grins broadly, Blinks' question appearing to stir more out of the 
  Shadow Lord than the music.
Alexander enters the compound.
Alexander has arrived.
Elan does not seem to hear Blinks as he continues to play, and then ends his 
  section with a soft flute solo that he somehow pulls from the strings of the 
  guitar. He sits back, a bit drained, and runs fingers through suddenly damp 
  hair. He takes a breath and looks over to Blinks. "Um, I'm not sure what it 
  would be, no."
Jeau walks over to the performance, and stands around with everyone else.
Elan silences his guitar, one last glisten of foxfire dying away from it
Erik hugs his knees to his chest, silent.
Alexander wanders in just about the time the show is ending.
Cassandra is sitting by the fire, staring into it, unusually subdued.
Dylan looks up at Elan's face as he finishes playing and murmurs, "Thank you." 
  Then he turns his head to nod to Jeau, Seeker, and Alexander.
Talks_to_Ghosts moves over by the fire and settles.
Elan sighs, relaxing. His guitar blurs with a soft play of light into a flute, 
  that he simply holds, it being far less bulky than the guitar. He looks up 
  and blinks at all the new arrivals since he started.
Alexander moves over by the fire and sits. "Evening," he say sto the general 
  assembly.
Jeau applauds the performance and says to Elan, "Nice. So how are things over 
  there?" a jerk of his head indicates west, to the city.
Dylan smiles at Alexander.
Derrick says "Heya, Alex."
Elan nods and smiles to Jeau. "Things are going pretty good. We still got some 
  kind of Wyrm thing to track down in the city. And getting all our patrol 
  routes figured out again with the addition of Dante, among other things.
Cassandra nods up at Alexander. "Yo."
Alexander nods a greeting to the three, but Elan quickly catches his 
  attention. "Wyrm thing in the city? What's up?"
Elan looks up at Alexander, and nods. "Some kind of weird parasite thing. It 
  attaches to other animals, and, like, broadcasts some kinda compulsion. You 
  think you smell your favorite food, and you'll do /anything/ to get to it. 
  Well, the place you're fighting to get to, is the mouth of the thing. Ed saw 
  it, also."
Dylan listens, intrigued.
Alexander raises his eyebrows. "Really. How big is this thing?"
Jeau smirks, "Clever bugger."
Cassandra looks up too, and listens quietly.
Blinks-at-Fire licks his lips, thinking. Mmm. Fresh-killed fawn.
Elan smiles at Alexander. "About the size of a big crawfish. But it can 
  physically possess other things. It possessed a dog that ate the remains of 
  the /last/ thing it possessed, and infected the dog. We caught the dog, and 
  I did the Cleansing on it. Killed the dog, and drove out the parasite. It 
  got away, into the sewers. We think that's where it - or /they/ - live, 
  since it's where we first encountered it."
Seeker frowns.
Jeau says "Sounds li' you got a good hunt on yo'ah hands. It ne'er tried to 
  sneak up an' jump into yo'ah mind, tho'?"
Alexander looks like he might not understand entirely. "So we're not talking 
  swallow you whole here, then? That helps."
Cassandra snorts laughter to herself. "Why? Being swallowed whole is fun..." 
  She's obviously kidding.
Alexander glances over at Cassandra. "That an offer?" he jests.
Elan nods to Alexander. "No, not yet. I don't know if they grow bigger or not. 
  But it could go down your throat and get you that way, perhaps. We've just 
  been able to trac kit by the kills it leaves behind. We are almost positive 
  that the dog show woman in Kent Crossing was a victem of it." He looks to 
  Jeau. "It.. can screw with your head, but you can fight it. I did, when we 
  met it in the sewers."
Cassandra's response is totally straightfaced. "That depends. Who's doing the 
  eating?"
Jeau says "Sounds li' you'll get it, soon 'nuf. But if'n you need, you call on 
  Jeau, an' I'll be there an' we'll cook it up bayou-style."
Blinks-at-Fire looks up at Cassandra and Alexander, puzzled.
Seeker says "If only to tear your way out from the inside."
Alexander shakes his head slowly, "If you need it spelled out," he murmurs. To 
  Elan, he replies, "Let me know when you next go out hunting. Now that I'm 
  moving back, I might as well get involved out there."
Cassandra murmurs as she turns back to the fire. "If you're doing the eating, 
  I'm not interested."
Elan nods. "I heard about that. We'd be more than glad to have you. I can give 
  you a map of the places we've seen the kills, and the two places we 
  encountered the thing itself."
Elan looks over to Jeau and chuckles. "I got some creole seasonings at the 
  Gnawer digs, just in case, man..."
Jeau says "Aww-haw, I'm there, Elan, I'm there!"
Alexander says "Sounds good. Let me know when."
Elan looks at Alexander. "You got, who? Pete Barlow, Hack and.. who else? You 
  thrashed out who's Alpha, yet?"
Alexander blinks. "Hack? What? I don't have shit for now. Pete and I have been 
  talking, but I haven't made any plans. My last pack just broke up yesterday, 
  gimme a mourning period at least."
Cassandra blinks at this, obviously surprised. "Hold it. Cerberus broke up? 
  Who're the Guardians, then?"
Elan nods. "I didn't know. Just tryin' t' think of any other City Garou I 
  know."
"I'll invite Pete along, if you want. And Hack, too," replies the Shadow Lord. 
  Turning to Cassandra, "Yes, and Whispers are for the time being. Robert's 
  going to try and recruit more."
Cassandra runs a hand through her curly hair, getting one finger tangled. "Um, 
  okay. What else did I miss?"
Dylan glances at Alexander, rather worriedly.
Alexander tilts his head, lupus style, in question at Dylan.
Erik absently picks up a nearby twig, listening with an absent air.
Dylan shakes his head a little, as though to dismiss the subject, but then 
  says, "Whispers has never been suited to being a Guardian pack in the realm, 
  and we have work to do as it is. I'm hoping this situation will change, and 
  soon."
Seeker nods to Jeau.
Jeau smirks, and glances around.
Alexander ahs softly, and nods. "I can see your concern. But I wouldn't worry. 
  I think if the shit hits the fan, you guys'll do alright."
Elan takes up his flute again, having shared what news he knows, and makes the 
  fetish change back to a guitar. He leans back, thinking and watching the 
  others for a bit.
Dillan finally greets Alexander, waving. "Hey, chief." He wanders from Derrick 
  over to the other Shadow Lord.
Alexander waves to Dillan. "Hey. Anything interesting going on that I should 
  know about?"
Soren enters the compound.
Soren has arrived.
Dylan sighs. "I hope that almost anyone here could do as much as we could do, 
  in the realm. Many could do more. All that qualifies us here is that wer 
  /are/ here, and that we work well as a pack."
Dillan shakes his head at the question. "You in particular? Nope. Things been 
  quiet."
Soren pauses at the edge of the compound clearing, getting his bearings. He 
  walks over toward his... friend, Alexander, though he nods a general 
  greeting to those gathered at the compound.
Alexander says "Good. Well, I need to talk to you in private later," to 
  Dillan. "But you guys do work well together," he tells the Stargazer. "And 
  you know the bawn better than anyone else. You know how important that is 
  for a guardian pack."
Talks_to_Ghosts leaves the compound.
Talks_to_Ghosts has left.
Jeau almost abruptly gives a nodding tip of his hat and curt wave before 
  taking off at a jog into the woods.
Cassandra is sitting quietly by the fire, seeming unusually subdued.
Jeau leaves the compound.
Jeau has left.
Dylan nods. He does not seem particularly happy, however.
Soren sits down next to Alexander, saying nothing as he opens his satchel and 
  pulls out a small leather bag from which he takes a whetstone. A short, 
  ritualistic knife follows the stone from the satchel and the Get sets about 
  sharpening the blade.
Dillan nods to Alexander. "You got it. I'll be around, here or at the 
  farmhouse, likely. Or ring my cell."
Alexander nods silently to Dillan before turning to face Soren. "So. How's it 
  feel to be an independent?"
"Like shit," says Soren flatly before drooling spit onto his sharpening stone. 
  He smears it with the blade edge.
Derrick gets up and wanders out, waving.
Derrick leaves the compound.
Derrick has left.
Alexander snorts softly, then shakes his head. "Yeah," is all he says.
"Indie?" asks Dillan, poking into the conversation.
Soren slides the blade a few more times. "Goldenclaws will not be here long 
  now." The statement is made with about as much tender emotion as any have 
  seen this Get express.
Elan starts to play again, keeping the music gentle enough that he does not 
  disturb any conversations.
Cassandra stands abruptly and wanders out of the compound, running a hand 
  through her hair.
Dante enters the compound.
Dante has arrived.
Dante shifts into Lupus form.
Alexander shakes his head. "I said my goodbyes last night. I don't expect 
  she'll be here past tomorrow. Maybe Friday."
Seeker looks at Alexander. "The Guardians saw our visitor safely off, then?"
Cassandra leaves the compound.
Cassandra has left.
Leaping-Wind pads into the compound.
Soren gives a nod to Alexander before looking over at Seeker. The Get returns 
  to his blade, thoughtful.
Alexander says "We did."
Elan looks up as he sees his packmate come in, and waves Dante to beside him. 
  "Hey, man." He bends back to a more lively tune, a cross between something 
  modern and Celtic.
Leaping-Wind pauses to nose Blinks and Dillan all friendly-like, then circles 
  around Elan and fallumps about him.
Dillan chuckles and waves to Dante. "Hey, gee. Whatcha doin' all the way out 
  here?" He sticks around Alexander, though, trying to look important.
Leaping-Wind needed the excersize. He asks why ~Dillan~ is puffing his chest 
  out like that?
Soren looks up from his sharpening. "Has the Warder named a new Guardian pack 
  yet?"
Dillan smirks, arms folded over his chest. He doesn't bother with an answer.
Seeker nods to Alexander. "Thank you."
Erik rises quietly and, just as quietly, departs.
You leave the compound, making your way northeast through the meadows to the 
  denser parts of the forest.