Werewolf: Appalachian Moonrise, Ch 1

[General Havoc]

The glasswalker was hanging back. Metis or no metis, Sophie had grown up with food delivered in pre-packaged bits. Even if she liked her meat rawer than her uncles, even if she had amused herself as a cub in stalking and pouncing on the mice that lived in the basement, it was a far cry from that to... this...

She looked from the deer to Faces, and from Faces to Arienne, and from her back to the deer. She knew what they expected her to do, of course, but she did not do so immediately. She felt... God how to explain it? She felt both ravenously hungry and physically ill, both, at the same time.

She had no idea how that was even possible.

She shut her eyes, crept forward, leaned in, and took a bite, trying to pretend to herself that it was just a piece of raw steak. The varying responses ranging from 'gag' to 'devour' all worked themselves into something approximating refueling. She managed to chew and swallow. It tasted like oversalted hamburger meat.

She opened her eyes, looking roughly like she was about to cough up a hairball, her snout bloody and red-stained. She said nothing, but it was patently clear that the feel of fresh blood on her muzzle had done nothing for her 'better understanding'. Though, on the other hand, she hadn't actually thrown up...

... yet.

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds howled in turn and in unison with the others. Then paused.

"We thank you spirit for your sacrifice to the great wheel of life, one day my blood will be the seed of plants for your kind to eat."

The Metis watched the Glasswalker take the first bite and almost laughed at her reaction. "Ha! Maybe the next time we will order in for your delicate tastes." The Galliard was grinning in jest, perhaps he had spent too much time around the Ragabash...

With that the Metis closed in on the meal and looked up at the others. "Shall we then?"

[Devonie]

Ari buries her muzzle in the buck's side, takes a healthy bite and -pulls-. She raises her head to the sky and allows the sweet blood to drizzle down her throat before gulping the meat down.

She'd always liked deer meat, and this was all the sweeter for the hunt.

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds drove his own snout into the meal now and grabbed a giant chunk out of the corpse, his massive Crinos jaws requiring such a large grab. The Metis lifted his head high as he swallowed and enjoyed the sensation of the raw meat and blood trickling down his throat and fur.

[General Havoc]

Sophie had heard this before, as a small cub, watching the Lion King on DVD. She decided then and there that if the spirit of this buck wanted her to recite Disney showtunes in payment for having slain and eaten it, then she should probably stick with net spiders. They made more sense.

Raw meat she could handle. Her tastes had always run that way. Bloody, freshly-slain meat was another matter, but even that she could stomach, albeit without much enjoyment. Watching the others gleefully gulp down that same bloody meat, gargling on blood as they lapped it up... that was a little much.

She decided to do things her own way.

She shifted to Hispo form, becoming large and more powerful than her Lupus, and reaching down with her jaws, tore an enormous strip of meat off of the buck's flank. Instead of gulping it down however, she backed several paces away from the fallen deer and laid it aside, atop a fallen log. No sooner had she laid it down than she switched to Crinos, her natural form. She quickly collected a small number of fallen branches, cleared an area on the forest floor of brush and other such debris, and piled them all together in a small teepee. Next she found a long, sturdy branch, providently one that had already fallen (no use pissing off a tree spirit needlessly), and deftly stripped it of its bark, shifting to Homid form momentarily so as to access her pocket knife, and then back to Crinos where she used the knife to sharpen the end of the branch into a crude stake. Once this was done, she impaled the large strip of meat she had torn from the carcass on the branch, lengthwise.

And then she summoned fire.

City girl though she was, she knew how to start a fire with matches, kindling, and so on, but she had none of those things here, so instead she made do with her gifts, conjuring fire atop the piled sticks in the midst of the clearing she had made.

[Devonie]

Arianne sets back on her haunches and watches Sophie. If she could laugh in this form she'd be rolling on the ground.

As it is, she snorts and returns to the buck for more meat.

[LadyTevar]

There was a great ball of fire for a moment, until Sophie got it down to the size she wanted, setting the little pile of dead branches merrily alight and just avoiding doing the same to her steak.

The blood dripping down into the fire smelled rather more tasty to Sophie than it did raw.

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds had watched Sophie as she had moved away with her piece of meat, and unlike Arianne he was impressed by the flame that Sophie had created. She had been taught that gift then, the same as he had. Nodding slowly, the Metis returned to his meal.

[rhoenix]

Biting off another large mouthful and gulping it down, Sees-Faces-In-Stars was reverent again for the buck that they had chased down, as the taste of motion, of strength was still evident in his flesh. It would aid him soon.

Watching in both amusement and amazement, Sees-Faces-In-Stars watched Sophie as he ate hungrily. Keeping half his attention on her scorching her meat with Fire as he ate, he kept watching to see why she did this.

[General Havoc]

The flames were considerably bigger than she had expected, but she managed to get them under control before anything got scorched. Once the fire was burning of its own accord, she sat down, still in Crinos, and extended the impaled flank steak over the fire, letting it bubble and hiss as the heat began to break down the tough cell walls.

"Anyone else want in?" she asked brightly, knowing full well that half of the others would probably consider this some kind of "taboo", or "admission of weakness". She wasn't entirely sure that she didn't want someone to speak up. Anyone who wanted to pull the "wise and noble wolf of the woods" routine with her would get a piece of her mind...

[rhoenix]

Finishing his current mouthful of succulent deer meat, Sees-Faces-In-Stars walked over to Sophie in her Crinos form, looking curiously at the meat she was letting burn over Fire's manifestation.

Sitting near the Fire to warm himself, he spoke up. "May I try a piece?"

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds paused and looked over at Sophie, his ears twitching inquisitively for a moment before he turned back to the meal and stripped off a large piece of meat and carried it over to the flame.

He was not showing himself to be one with nature. But this was another Metis, and he was going to be damned before he excluded her. Besides, slightly cooked meat wasn't so bad.

The Crinos drove a stick through his own hunk of meat and placed it over the fire as well.

[General Havoc]

Well that was hardly the reaction she expected...

"Um... sure!" she said to Faces. The meat had only been cooking for a couple minutes, and was still somewhat difficult to tear, but she managed to rip off a piece of the partly-cooked steak, and handed it to Faces, turning the makeshift spit slowly as she did so. She wondered idly if he'd ever eaten anything cooked before. She didn't know any Lupuses firsthand, save for one or two Glasswalkers (yes, there were a few), and those only very indirectly.

"Careful," she said, as Breathes walked over and spiked his own piece of meat on a stick, "it's hot." Something that was obvious to her, but might not be to a wolf...

She glanced around. "I don't suppose there's any parsley growing around here, is there?"

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds sighed and looked Sophie in the eyes. "Yes, I know. I'm not a Lupus, I've cooked food before. In fact I'd wager I've done outdoor cooking more than you have." The Crinos grinned at her, a tiny jab at her history as a Glasswalker, but obviously meant only in jest.

"So I see you can command the elements to some extent."

[Devonie]

Arianne shakes her head. Dearest Spirits, what were the woods coming to? Garou cooking their meat like Homids.

Oh, well. She'd eaten her meat cooked for the first 17 years of her life. It wouldn't kill her to cook it now.

She pulls off a decent-sized piece and, turning Crinos, creates a spit for it. She smiles at the others as she joins them.

"Rather clever," she says. "Not a skill all of us has." She asks permission with her eyes, not taking for granted that she may share in the fire.

[General Havoc]

Sophie smiled back at Breathes. "I was talking to him," she said, gesturing at Sees-Faces. "I figured if you came over here to cook, you probably knew it was hot already."

She shrugged at the mention of command over the elements. "I guess," she said. "Just one of those things. I can create basic stuff, fire, water, pockets of air... never really used it for much besides cleaning out a keyboard now and then, or restarting a pilot light." She left out the various 'incidents' that her elemental creation gifts had resulted in while she was a cub. Shorted motherboards, singed fur, and enormous mud-balls dropped on people's heads were not things she judged appropriate here.

Arianne walked over, implicitly asking for permission to approach what Sophie belatedly realized was her fire. She banished that thought immediately. If she refused to abide the point-scoring nonsense of everyone else, she had no right to start playing the game herself. She nodded to Arianne with what she hoped was a welcoming look (or at least something other than a challenge to the death).

"I don't mind it raw," she said, "but I usually get it aged and... you know... cleaned. Next best thing I guess."

She looked around at the other three Garou. "So I guess you guys aren't from Chicago..."

[Charon]

Breathes-the-Winds looked over at Arianne. He should turn her away, even if this was not his fire, she had played her cards wrong and she would do the same if it had been him. Or worse.

Breathes-the-Winds shook his head, no. Leave those games to the elders. That was their game and he hated that game. He would not get sucked into it.

"I was taught the same ability by the spirits. It certainly has its uses."

When Sophie asked her question, Breathes-the-Winds shook his head. "No, I'm a local. Well, kind of a local. I was born close to here. Over by the reservation."

[LadyTevar]

Steaks were cooked (barely), stories exchanged, and a couple hours pass. What was left of the young buck would be field-dressed and carried back to the cabins, where an outbuilding had a large freezer just for such purposes, so those with no time to hunt, or when the hunt went poorly could get a meal. Even the Kinfolk were welcome to it -- as long as they didn't mind the gnawed parts.

Then it was time to sleep, cabins separated into male and female occupants. The beds were typical single bunks just barely big enough for a large man, but the pillows and linens fresh and the quilts atop hand-made. The quilts in the women's cabin had butterflies, or ladies in antebellum dresses, all made from brightly colored fabric. The men's cabin had more traditional patterns in darker shades; patchwork quilts, checkerboards, triangle-shaped trees. One quilt was of old calendars printed on good linen/cotton dishtowels, still with cryptic dates circled by thread or black marker as they marked a decade of someone's life from 1968 to 1978. On the floor were a couple of large dog-beds, sewn from what looked to be cast-off denim jeans, stuffed with batting and herbs to chase away fleas and other biting insects.

Outside, crickets filled the night with chirps and calls, mixed with the drone of katydids and buzzing of other night-calling bugs. The river's roar was muted by distance, but an ever-present undertone to the night-song. Owls called challenges to the night: who-hoot-ahoooo... who-hoot-a-hooo-ahhh call and response echoing down the valley.

[Charon]

Still stuck in his Crinos form, Breathes-the-Winds had little choice but to curl up on the floor near the dog-beds, trusting in his thick fur to keep the night's chill away.

The young metis could not wait for daybreak now, when he could turn into some other form that would allow for better interaction, and maybe to show off some of his own innate talents. A small part of the Metis knew that the elders had scheduled this challenge just to push him, knowing that he would be forced into the form of a Crinos by night.

[rhoenix]

Nestled up in one of the dog-beds in the male cabin, Sees-Faces-In-Stars was curled up cozily. As he fell asleep, he reflected that this had been a good night, and a good hunt. He had learned much about the Garou who would likely become his Pack, and he was grateful.

Not all of them were curious about the little mysteries of the universe, but that was to be expected - Gaia needed all kinds. He smiled as he fell asleep. Tomorrow would be another gift.

[LadyTevar]

Helios was yet to peek over the mountain, although the clock said it was fully 6am as Galileo Crosses-the-Stars stepped outside his cabin and took a deep breath of the September morning air. Fog drifted from the river, leaving a visible haze along the ground that twisted lazily in the slight currents of air before rising up into the filament. The nearby forest was a ghostly vision, wrapped Aeolus' embrace, while the mountains surrounding the river were nearly invisible, the fog muffling their tree-covered sides out of sight even though they were barely a hundred meters away, their tops lost where fog cloud met sky. Over the eastern mountain was a hint of gold; Helios peeking from below the mountain's tall horizon, making the fog luminescent where it blocked the sun's rays.

It was a beautiful morning. The Ragabash took another deep breath of the damp air, smelling breakfast on the faint breeze -- Hattie up and making her normal morning feast. He figured Sees-Faces would smell it, but the rest of the young cubs might need a little help getting out of bed.

Grinning widely at the thought, he picked up two metal garden trowels and walked off to the cabin where Sees Faces, Breathes, and the young Shadowlord would be sleeping. There was a chimney on top that led down into the room, used in winter to help warm the cabin. Galileo had discovered long ago that the chimney was big enough for an object -- like a garden trowel -- to be dropped down it. If the object was metal, it made a horrible racket as it fell banging down the chimney -- if you dropped it just right.

Best of all, it was a short jump to the top of the women's cabin, if you were skilled or in Crinos. The roof might not take the weight of a Crinos, however, so he made sure to cloak himself well before jumping off the roof. After all, he was an Elder. He had a reputation to maintain, and getting caught was bad for the reputation. Plus, he had to get to the dinner hall early so he'd be first in line to breakfast.

Thus, the morning wakeup (for those not awoken by the smell of bacon and coffee and fresh-baking biscuits) was the RATTLECLANGBANGRATTLETHUD!!! of something falling down the chimney not far from their beds, as Galileo made sure they'd be up in time for breakfast.

[Devonie]

Arianne leapt from her bed at the noise, transforming to Crinos in mid-leap and landing on all fours.

Immediately she smelled breakfast. And saw the trowel in the fireplace, lying innocently across the firedogs.

She transformed back into Homid and smiled sheepishly at Sophie. "I guess that's what passes for the wake-up bell around here."

[Cynical Cat]

Alexander awoke with a start. He had gotten more sleep than the others, but the last few weeks hadn't be generous with sleep time. He had needed it. "Fucking Ragabash," he said, diagnosing his problem. He swung out of bed and reached for his clothes.

[rhoenix]

His nose was already pulling insistently at his consciousness. Sees-Faces-In-Stars' nose alerted him to wonders being made with Fire's help that Hattie was making - delicious morsels like "sausages" and "ground cow," along with other plant stuff they ate. He was just slowly and dreamily getting to his feet when it happened.

Leaping nearly three feet in the air, Sees-Faces-In-Stars looked around wildly for the noise, and saw the metal thing coming to a rest inside the fireplace. His eyes narrowed, especially as it had no smell to who had last held it, though the handle was warmed, as if by a hand.

Just as he was going to go outside, he heard a similar, horrible clanging noise from the ladies' cabin as well, followed by swift and sure footsteps. Leaping up, he knocked the latch on the cabin door aside, and then raced outside toward the noise, but nobody was there. His eyes narrowed, and he trotted back to the males' cabin to see if they were coherent.

[Cynical Cat]

Alexander finished getting dressed and slung the scrolltube over his shoulder. "Is that bacon I smell? Yes it is. Sweet dead cooked pig." He rambled over in the direction of the cooking smells.