Werewolf: Appalachian Moonrise, Ch 1

[Cynical Cat]

Alexander inclined his head to Hattie. "My apologies, elder. I should not have let these ones bait me. I spoke only to help the Lupus, but since even wise advice from me is clearly unwelcome I will hold my tongue from now on. The breakfast was excellent and I thank you. I'll help with the dishes and clean up and then I'll be on my way to pick up the fetish."

He paused. "Are there any packs of the Get of Fenris in the area?"

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds wasn't sure how he felt about someone jumping in to protect him. It was new, and, the Metis had to admit, nice.

He grinned at Alexander. "I have to agree with Sophie. Mule is a rather pathetic and common insult. But really, are you trying to get into a war of words with a Galliard? That's right up there with trying to out-trick a Ragabash or telling a Theurge how to contact the spirits."

Breathes-the-Winds wanted to lay into the pretentious Shadowlord, but he knew that would only end badly. They would be working together soon, for good or ill, and if they had to work together it was best to keep bad blood down. Though that certainly wouldn't stop him from making certain the Shadowlord knew his place.

"John's one of Fenrir's," Breathes-the-Winds pointed his thumb towards the other pack that was present. "But there aren't any full packs of them around here."

[Cynical Cat]

"A pity," said Alexander. For a moment a bit of a smile slipped onto his lips. He would have to practice not letting that happen. He had won the exchange, but that might have tipped them off to that truth. His weakness in this area had already cost him much. He could not afford to lose more. He was a Child of Thunder. First and foremost, one destroyed weakness in one self.

[Devonie]

Arianne sinks slowly back into her seat and picks up her coffee cup. -He'll- go after the fetish? Let him try. If he gets in the way, she'll kick his ass back to wherever he came from.

She eyes him warily as she waits for Galileo to return.

[General Havoc]

Just as the Shadowlord deemed himself to have won the exchange, so Sophie deemed herself to have done the same. She'd heard worse on many a messageboard flame war than this before. She didn't look at it through the lens of politics, merely the lens of establishing herself and what her reactions would be to this kind of posturing. Part of being Philodox however was knowing when to let it go, and as the Shadowlord seemed ready to disengage, she decided to do the same.

Besides, the food was good, good enough that she simply didn't catch the sideways glances thrown her way for the assembly of technical equipment she was surrounded by. She made no excuses for her tech-centered lifestyle, nor would she try to hide it. She was a Glasswalker first and foremost, and needed nobody's permission to be so.

Arianne seemed to be gunning for some kind of Alpha spot in this newly-forming pack. Probably the Shadowlord was too. Hell, they all were, probably, even her, despite the fact that she had no real idea how one established Alpha dominance. She'd play it by ear, as always...

[LadyTevar]

Alexander inclined his head to Hattie. "My apologies, elder. I should not have let these ones bait me. I spoke only to help the Lupus, but since even wise advice from me is clearly unwelcome I will hold my tongue from now on. The breakfast was excellent and I thank you. I'll help with the dishes and clean up and then I'll be on my way to pick up the fetish."

Hattie had to admit, he spoke nice, and someone taught him manners. "Thank ya bunches, saves me th' trouble o' askin' you," she answered. "When ya'll kids do start fightin' keep it ta fists. First one clawed up gets all ya'll beat down, ya hear me?" She wasn't talking to just Stormwalker now, but all of the young Garou. A couple of the older pack who were sitting at the table with her exchanged glances and sunk a little in their seats to avoid notice.

The screen door on the cabin banged as Galileo stormed out. His body posture alone screamed that there was trouble. Hattie rose, but the Ragabash waved her back. "That was Alma Childe. Her office was broken into sometime last night." He looked at those he'd tasked to fetch the bone and tossed a set of car keys on the table without any sign of humor or teasing. "If you're finished eating, the jeep's around back. The Berea police were called, but Alma can get you in to take a look yourselves. Find who took the bone, and get it back."

Hattie gave him a hard look, which Galileo answered with the tiniest shake of his head. Hattie's return glare meant she'd be having a long talk with him after the children were gone.

[rhoenix]

His eyes narrowing at Galileo's words and Hattie's unspoken ones, Sees-Faces-In-Stars gulped down the rest of his orange juice. "We hunt," he said thoughtfully, and he got to his feet.

Turning to the other cubs who he had hunted with last night, he addressed them. "So, we go? Oh," he paused, wincing slightly. "Wait."

Turning to Hattie, he bowed his head slightly. "Thank you for delshus Breakfast."

With that done, he turned back to the others. "There. So, we go?"

[Cynical Cat]

Stormwalker said nothing. There was no point in speaking. They had been foolish to leave what was almost certainly a fetish lying around as a make work mission for a new pack instead of seizing it immediately. No archeologist would bury a worked piece of mammoth bone, one that might have honest to god writing on it, in basement store room with tag on it. Papers would be written, experts would study it, museums would display it. The only way such an item would be forgotten would be if it wanted to be.

Well they were paying for it by now. He began gathering up dishes to wash. The cops would take their sweet time with the scene. Of course, that might not be a bad thing. Knowledge of how human society worked was so damn useful. Not all humans were merely humans. "Are there any kinfolk in the police or campus security?" he asked.

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds sighed. It figured.

The garou scarfed down the rest of his meal and washed it down with milk. Getting up from his seat he ran back towards the rooms they had stayed in last night, he came back a minute later with a baseball cap on his head, covering the tiny horns which poked out of his head, and a shirt. "Thanks for the meal Hattie! As good as ever." The young garou looked at the rest of the makeshift pack. "Everyone have everything they're gonna need?"

[Devonie]

Heart-of-Steel clenched her teeth. No, it wouldn't do to say I-told-you-so. No, no, no.

She snagged the keys to the jeep and grinned at Hattie. "Wonderful meal, Hattie, as usual." She pulled the older woman into a hug, rubbing her cheek to Hattie's in a quick gesture.

"No kin, Alexander. But I have some contacts. You comin'?"

She lead the way to the parking lot, pausing only to snag her backpack out of her car before stalking over to the Jeep.

[General Havoc]

Sophie too had finished, and she reached around and pulled her laptop out of her pack, along with a car-adaptor and her portable sattelite uplink. The car ride would take an hour, and she might as well try to see if anything had been entered into either the police computer system (if it existed), or the university computer system (which assuredly had to).

"Let's get going," she said, climbing into the Jeep. Arienne would be driving, it appeared, which would let Sophie use her computer on the way.

[rhoenix]

Making a non-committal growling noise (that would have been a shrug instead, had Sees-Faces-In-Stars grown up a homid), he walked with Sophie and Arienne toward the carbeast, which always farted nonstop whenever it was awake.

With the two ladies walking toward the two front seats, he squared his shoulders and sat somewhat awkwardly in the back, remembering the belt thing when he accidentally sat on part of it.

He resolved to breathe lightly during the whole trip, as car-beasts always had terrible farts.

[LadyTevar]

"Yer welcome, Sees-Faces. Think o' a human name ta call yerself out there." Hattie got up now, and gently but firmly took the dirty dishes out of Stormwalker's hands. "Get. You kin warsh dishes another time, son."

The Louisville Slugger hat on Breathe's head got an approving nod from the mountain woman. "Adahy, you still owe me a warshin' up as well."

Arianna's hug got a genuine smile out of the Chld of Gaia, which turned wry as the irrepressable Fianna darted off to her car. " 'Contacts' ... Iszat what they're callin' it now..," Hattie snorted after her, muttering. "Somethin's contactin', I reckon..."

She looked around at the others. The girls had already run off. "Waal... don' jis' stand there like knots on logs -- Go keep those two outta trouble." she ordered the boys, bending over to start clearing off the table they'd sat at, with Galileo's help.

[Charon]

"Yeah yeah, I'll wash when we get back before tonight." Hattie's use of Breathes-the-Winds human name reminded him that he would have to use it while they were out in the world.

Breathes-the-Winds followed the others and hopped into the back of the jeep with Sees-Faces. He'd never been to a college before. So this was sure to be interesting. He was worried of course however. Someone had stolen the fetish. Maybe it had been the Shadowlord. He had not been with them that night, he could have driven to the college himself and stolen the fetish while no one was looking. Perhaps he had hidden it somewhere so that when he "found" it he could get all the praise.

Breathes-the-Winds would have to watch him carefully.

"Right, that reminds me. While we're out and about you should probably call me by Adahy. It'd weird people out a bit if everyone went around callin' me Breathes-the-Winds."

[Devonie]

"I heard that, Hattie!" Arianne hollered as she climbed into the Jeep.

She pulled her laptop out of the backpack and fired it up, raising her eyes to the startled Glasswalker. She shrugged. "School-issued, and I'm sure it's nowhere near what you have," she said. "However..."

She typed in a few things then turned it so Sophie could see the display. "I can save you a few seconds' hacking."

On the screen was the information needed to get into the school security system.

She grinned and handed the laptop over so Sophie could copy the information and put the backpack at Sophie's feet. "Just close it down and put it back in there when you're done, please."

She climbed into the driver's seat and fired up the jeep, glancing into the back seat. "Yeah, you do need a human name, Faces.... How about Joe?"

[rhoenix]

Blinking once at the question from Arienne, Sees-Faces-In-Stars then looked thoughtful for a few moments before smiling. "Yes. I will be Joe."

After a few more moments, he looked confused. "Would I be missing name? Homid have two names, yes?"

[Cynical Cat]

"I'll be there in a moment," said Alexander as he cleared the last spot and moved the dishes over to be washed. For a moment he weighed his options and then decided on a course of action. He slung his coat over his shoulder and headed toward the Jeep.

[Devonie]

Arianne glances at 'Joe'. "Yeah, I suppose you do. You could use 'Smith,' I suppose. It's a common enough name."

She grits her teeth at the sight of the Shadowlord sauntering toward them. "Get it in gear, Shadowlord!" she shouts. "We ain't got all day!"

She'd love to leave his ass here, but Galileo had pretty much charged her with keeping the group together with the whole 'guide' bit.

[Cynical Cat]

Alex climbed into the back of the Jeep and reached for the seat belt. "By all means leave." He fished into his pocket and pulled out his iPod, drawing out the earbuds and putting them in. Rammstein or Sabaton? He went with "Ghost Division".

[LadyTevar]

The trip was uneventful, although a couple of times they might have thought Arianne was trying to wreck the jeep. The road out of the park was narrow and twisty, yet the young Ahroun drove it like she had it memorized and owned both sides of the road. Once out on the 'main road', she was able to gun the jeep into real speed, taking the curves marked 25mph at twice the speed.

It was thankfully a short drive between the park and the interstate. Once upon the interstate the other occupants could relax and not worry about being thrown across the seat. Now, they could see why the Garou were here.

The first blush of autumn was creeping over the green mountain sides, a scattering of trees already starting to show their bright hues, an exclaimation of color amongst the dark greens. The fog was nearly burnt off, hovering in the deep ridges the Appalachian folk called 'hollers', clinging to that last bit of shadow as Helios brought the day. Yet even he was overcame by the mountains, the high tree-topped ridges often standing taller than his horizon, leaving the road below in a pattern of shadow and light. The mountain ridges spread out on either side, a line of low humps, some rising above the sea of fog like islands. They stretched out as far as the eye could see, bluish-tinged ridges behind ridges, until it was nearly impossible to tell mountain from cloud-shrouded horizon.

A lesser state route ran beside the interstate, matching it nearly mile for mile. Small communities grew along the route, wherever a creek had dug a holler and left enough bottomland for the houses to be built. Each house had a yard, some large, some just enough for car park or a child's playground. Others had no yard at all, for they were no more than a single or double-wide trailer perched seemingly precariously on the steep hillside above the creeks. White-board or brick churches stood by the side of the road, their parking lots carefully measured.

All these signs of the Weaver and Humanity would make a RedTalon insane, yet behind and around each community the forested hills loomed, dwarfing the humans below. Trees thrived around the houses, some decades old, kept for the beauty and shade they gave. It was as if the Appalachian people wanted to live with nature.

Yet there were scars here. The Interstate cut cruelly through the mountains, leaving deep cuts that set the mountain's bones bare for cars to pass through. On the other side, hollers had been filled to smooth the passage, then paved over for humanity to drive at speed.

In the distance there was a break in the smooth humped mountains, one that was unnaturally flat, as if the top had been cut off and taken away. Even the trees had been removed from it, leaving it naked and bare next to its tree-covered fellows. Something moved along the side; a tractor trailer truck made toy-like from the distance, it's trailer overflowing with Gaia's ancient life -- coal.

As they drew closer to Berea, the land flattened, tree-covered ridges becoming steep pasture-land, scarred by the remnants of the harvest or golden with early September grass. In some, horses or cattle grazed, ignoring the cars whizzing by. Others had been transformed, bulldozed into flat terraces and studded with carbon-copy McMansions for sleeper communities.

And yet, still, the blue ridges of the Appalachia mountains dominated all.

[Cynical Cat]

Alexander carefully put away the iPod in a black leather case with worn gilt lettering of the initials "A" and "K". He tucked the case away in his pocket, patting it softly. It was one of the few material things he retained from Joseph-Bones-of-Steel and more precious through it's association to him than for any material value.

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds had spent the trip keeping his hat on and looking at the environment. It made him more than a little sick inside to see the world like this. The elders had told of old stories where this land was pure and free of the wyrm's creatures. The Garou wished he'd been born in those years, rather than seeing this pure land reduced to this.

Breathes-the-Winds leaned his head over the driver's seat. "So, how much further do we have?"

[General Havoc]

Balancing two different laptops on her knees, typing into Arienne's, using her wireless headset with built-in microphone to communicate with her own (after setting the voice recognition software to her "Homid" setting), and doing it all while the person next to her was trying to get them all killed on backcountry roads was... quite a feat. It was a good thing she didn't get carsick. It also didn't leave a lot of time for musing on the environment of the Appalachian mountains that they drove through. Her overwhelming impressions whenever she raised her head were the same. Mountains. Huge mountains, with what to her was only the barest human presence in them, interstate aside, with trees that cloaked the landscape thick as fibers on a carpet. This place had its own majesty certainly, perhaps even its own beauty worth protecting... but to her, it was nothing compared to the Windy City.

Not that she wanted to see this place bulldozed and replaced with a ecumenopolis, it took all kinds of places to make a world. But her place was not here, and she was reasonably confident it never would be.

That didn't bother her.

With a single touch of her black box, of course, she could have downloaded the entire contents of Arienne's computer to her own, without even being noticed. She could have coded a backdoor and slave controls into the machine using Microsoft's own security loopholes, turning the computer into a sleeper agent that would tell her everything that Arienne was doing with it. She could even have done so with Arienne sitting right next to her without making it look like anything more innocuous than an FTP transfer. She did none of these things. Hackers had nearly no concept of private information, anything electronic was theirs for the taking, but there was a rule that Sophie chose to follow in this case. Never try to hack your own reality. Stealing bank data from the First Bank of New York was one thing. Spying on someone you knew and had to deal with personally was quite another. That was a line it was perilous to cross, and unless warranted by later actions, one she would not.

At least not yet.

She had wirelessly logged into the campus security files, but that wasn't all she wanted to see. She established a secondary remote connection, separate from the login on Arienne's computer, and used it to try and break into the Archaeology department's database. That, combined with security, would be a good place to start.

[LadyTevar]

((For the Campus Security, you've a pasword so I'm saying you're able to get anything they have on it. For the College Archeology database, you need 5 Successes at Diff 4 to get in, cause it's a crappy computer system, but 7 will get you in and out tracelessly.))


The Campus Security files thus far had very little in them, merely noting when and where an alarm when out, what time the Campus Security guards arrived to check it out, and a brief blurt about "Break-In, notify Berea Police." It wasn't that Sophie couldn't find more, it was because nothing more had been entered.

The Archeology Department was little better. Most of what she found was recent -- Professor Alma Childe's own sanitized notes for public record, stating the possible age of the artifact. It was little more than what they had learned from Galileo, although there were a couple interesting facts to be found.

The bone had been donated to the College in 1980 by Lester Peebles of Corbin, Kentucky. It had been an inheritance from his uncle, and was donated to the college by Mr Peebles for study and 'for future generations to learn". The bone had then been placed in the college archives and never bought out other than inclusion on inventory records. This is in fact how Prof. Childe discovered the bone, by conducting a new inventory. The last one had been done nearly ten years back, and her notes include her dark horrible thoughts on what could be done to the college's microfilm reader, where the prior inventory records and all other records from pre-2000 had been stored.

[LadyTevar]

As the interstate rolled on, the scenery did not change. Small houses on small lots or large farm pastures were the majority of human development to be seen in the area. As the exit for Berea closed, what they could see of it from the interstate once again showed the odd dynamics of Appalachian living.

The town itself was surrounded by farm land, huge tracts cleared for either horse pasture or for crops. The town itself was like one of the communities they'd passed by writ large -- single family dwellings, often no more than 2 stories high, on postage-stamp yards. Some of the dwellings looked to be early 1900s, mostly in good repair. Even the businesses were low to the ground, barely larger than the houses in many cases. Once again, there was lots of green spaces; trees, yards, tiny beautification project gardens along the roadway. Once again, all the houses seemed to lie low and huddle to the ground in the shade of the Mountains around them.

All the largest buildings were at Berea College. Here there were campus housing buildings that towered over the town, although none reached over 15 stories. To Adahy, Arianne, and 'Joe', this was a large town, aka the 'big city'. To Sophie and Alexander, both from more populated areas, this 'big city' was barely a bedroom community.

The Center for Appalachia Studies was in the Bruce-Trades building, which had been built in separate sections from 1903 to 1909, before finally being renovated into one complete building in 1920 and updated slightly in 2001. It still held a lot of the 1900s look, with a new glass entryway, but was still merely three stories tall. According to the computer information, Prof Childe's office should be near the back of the front half of the building, on the second floor.

Both Campus Security and Berea Police vehicles were parked outside.