4/15/2005

01:15 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.

Currently the moon is in the waxing Half Moon phase (44% full).
Currently in Saint Claire, it is raining lightly. The temperature is 46 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the southwest at 7 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.12 and falling, and the relative humidity is 89 percent. The dewpoint is 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius.)
It is currently 12:51 Pacific Time on Fri Apr 15 2005.
Basil has connected.

Lane(#300RJ)
Stretching a good quarter mile from the road, this gravel lane leads back to the Escrowe farm. Trees line the lane, new leaves shading the skeletal leaves to a soft grey-green. 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.
(Non-Garou, please "+view curse")
Contents:
Basil
Obvious exits:
PORch  BarnYard  Sunrise Road  

Not so rare a sight now near the farm, but sporadic still at best, Kenneth makes his way up the lane towards the farmhouse. Shoes crunch on gravel, announcing his presence loudly to any within the hearing vicinity. As the Shadow Lord walks, the glittering twin pair of rings strung around his neck reflect the meager sun's rays, making him even more visible.

Basil is out walking in the rain alone, his strides slow and deliberate, his face sullen. For once he isn't smiling nor does the cub look like he'd be anyone's friend, his hair and clothes wet enough to show he's been outside for quite sometime. His walking loop brings him around to the driveway across Kenneth's path, not so much as glancing at him.

Kenneth is dampened around the shoulders and his hair is wilted slightly, but the Shadow Lord seems ignorant to the fact it's raining outside. He isn't, though, unobservant and the cub's striding outside garners a light lift of his brows. "Yo," he calls out lowly, an eye on the cub, another on the main objective- the farmhouse.

Basil stops in mid step when he hears the voice of another, not recognizing it at first. His body goes tense then relaxes again when he sees it's Kenneth, staring at him. "Hello. You looking for someone?" He keeps it straight and to the point, standing just off to one side of Kenneth's path.

"Somewhat," Kenneth answers, giving his hair a quick shake to flick off some droplets. "And you're lookin' like you dropped a contact."

Basil shakes his head to Kenneth. "No. I just dropped another cub is all. Been out walking for a while. Who are you looking for?"

Kenneth doesn't answer right off the bat, observing the cub from his distance. Then he replies, "Preferably, someone who was there and knows what went on during an incident on the bawn." The halfmoon then pins his gaze onto the cub. "What do you mean, 'dropped another cub'?"

Basil says "You mean the one where they killed that hiker, don't you? I got some details of what happened. Not the whole story. I know some people that know more." He lifts a hand to push some of the hair from his eyes, looking off to one side. "Hope was outside. She ran, I caught her. She ran again. I caught her. With teeth."

Kenneth lifts his brows again, which had slipped back into their neutral position. "Hope?" The halfmoon gives pause, putting name and vestiges of a face together in the database of his mind. "Oh yeah. Borg-Girl." The Shadow Lord looks back to the cub. "So, what are you so upset about?"

Basil's nose twitches and he grunts, glancing back towards the house. "I don't know. Christine is pissed at me. Says I just ran a little girl into the dirt for fun. Olga looks pissed at me, and she's my elder now. But I feel as though I did the right thing. I don't understand why I'm still so pissed off though, like I want to do more."

"'Cause you do the right thing doesn't mean everyone's gonna kiss your ass for doing it," Kenneth utters nonplussed. "Least you took some action instead of sittin' on your ass watching her back as she took off. Needs of the many outweight the needs of the few." The halfmoon then starts up his walk again, seeking out the shelter of the covered porch. Not saying anything after he's past the cub, the Shadow Lord pauses again in step, not turning. "Chose Olga as your elder huh?"

Porch
A lathe-turned wooden railing runs the length of the porch save where the steps are, well-worn with use. To the right of the stairs, a wide swing is suspended from the overhang which shelters this area; to the left, a small table is the centerpiece for several chairs pulled around it, all of which face out to the front yard and the fields and trees beyond. The spring breezes which blow through hold the promise of new growth to come, filling the space with an openness that includes all of the farm. The low shrubs planted in the rich bed of earth beyond the railing hold new leaves and tiny buds which threaten to burst into color at any moment.
An aging screen door newly refurbished stands between the heavy inner door of the house and the outside air. Four steps lead down to the lane, a number of pots with small flower seedling carefully arranged alongside them.
(Non-Garou, please "+view curse")
Obvious exits:
Front Door  Lane  

Basil says "I don't expect to have my ass kissed for doing my job as an Ahroun by doing the right thing with the other cubs. Or as a Garou. But it wouldn't hurt to not be looked at like you just beat a kitten to death with a golf club because you did what you had to." He follows along with Kenneth on his right, his face becoming a bit of an angry frown. "Yeah. Olga. Hopefully she still wants me. Why the *fuck* did that stupid girl have to run?"

Kenneth coughs a rough laugh, hearing the crunch from behind as he makes his way to the porch. "Thankless job, keepin' it real." The Shadow Lord slips up the few steps, turns and looks out from the porch then at the thin sheets of rain. "Borg's fucked with her mind. Of course she's gonna run. I'm surprised you haven't run yet. Surprised a lot of cubs I saw didn't run." The Shadow Lord makes no indication if he had run before. "If it comes down to it, you should've killed the girl. The others'll get over it."

Basil walks up onto the porch behind Kenneth and then plops down into one of the chairs heavily, scowling out over the rainy fields. "Christine won't accept what she is. She needs to. She needs to train so we, or she doesn't fucking die when we go out on the Rite. And she's a pacifist too! Fucking fantastic." He rants on, throwing his hands into the air. "She's sweet, but damn it, that won't help us against whatever we run into. Hope? Totally useless. I'd rather go alone then drag her along." He looks at Kenneth. "I haven't run because while none of this stuff really makes sense yet, I can't explain it away. And I want to see the Umbra. I don't think I'll ever have to kill Hope, though. She runs even slower then I do. She hasn't practiced. She's weak. What is she even supposed to be?"

"A testament to just how foolish the Garou of this place are for letting her still breathe air through that stoma of hers," Kenneth replies, flat in tone. "Garou have no room for weakness. You want respect, you gotta earn it." He turns his eyes on the cub, black and void of compassion. "Christine will learn it soon enough. She'll have to, or as you say... she'll die." He looks back out to the rain. "Umbra's trippy. No drug can do what the Umbra can do. When you see it, you'll find out just why the hell we are here. Place feels ancient as time itself. Maybe even beyond that... if you feel that kind of connection enough." He looks skywards towards the grey masses blocking the blue. "Not to mention, once you see what the city's Shadow's like, you'll really freak the fuck out and want to kill Wyrmshit, bad."

Basil says "I doubt she'll make it through her Rite... And she seems to be in so much pain. Be so bitter. I bet she would kill many of us if given the chance." Basil thinks for a moment. "Maybe she'll go over to the Wyrm. So she can." Basil stands up again and walks down to the other end, then back again to lean on a railing near Kenneth. "I'm trying to get that through her damn head. But she won't accept anything. But God. And His word. And she accepts it for *the* word with no science. I believe in God, but I'm not stupid. Ugh." He gives the railing a light smack with his hand. "Thats part of why I want to go there. I got to know what it's like. Whats there." His eyes tick over to Kenneth, nose twitching again. "Why? Whats wrong with the city stuff?"

Kenneth turns slowly to face the cub. He stares at him for a long, silent moment, unspeaking. Then without warning, the halfmoon launches himself at the other youth with an unspeakably hostile snarl written on his features. The Shadow Lord aims to knock him all the way down to the wooden boards of the porch.

Basil's body jerks when he sees the other teen suddenly coming for him, and his hands grow tight on the railing behind him. Anger almost forgotten or at least set aside comes rushing back and the cub braces himself on the railing. Both hands busy, he readies himself for the blow and strikes with the only weapon he has, leaning forward to headbutt the Shadow Lord.

Kenneth, with hands reaching to grab for the cub as it were, has his palm out to connect with the cub's head. The halfmoon seems to develop a sudden extra strength as he grabs for the cub to throw him down to the wood boards of the porch and pin him there.

Basil feels a sudden pain on his forehead, his arms going loose briefly enough for Kenneth to grapple him well. The Ahroun's anger builds and rather then resist being grabbed, he throws all his body weight into it. He lunges for any part of Kenneth he can get at, looking to sink his teeth into into flesh regardless of how ineffective they may be, putting up a fight despite his size and lack of training.

Kenneth redirects the weight of the cub's lunge, experience in his own ways of fighting as well as tournament aikido showing itself as he fluidly moves around. Basil's teeth get a mouthful of his white longsleeve shirt, and can bite down, but that doesn't give him much. The Shadow Lord is already on his way to Glabro, and with an enlarged meaty fist, Kenneth grabs once more for the cub's neck and seeks to put him down against the porch floor.

Basil tears into the shirt and jerks his head away, doing some damage to the shirt before spitting it out. The coppery taste isn't there like it was before. The fact that Kenneth is shifting dawns on him and soon Basil is doing the same. He doesn't have near the fighting experience of Kenneth so he does the two things he knows can help. He taps into the anger just like Emma told him to, pushing back against the arm around his neck while lashing out at Kenneth's eyes with his longer Glabro nails. He screams no words out in particular, only noise, lifting a rage fueled foot to kick at Kenneth's groin.

Kenneth twists his face as the nails claw into him, drawing blood, but this just seems to really tick the halfmoon off even more. He puts all his bodyweight into holding the cub down, his own nails and fingertips digging down into the cub's nape. Basil's kick connects hard with the Shadow Lord's inner thigh rather than the groin, but he only grunts out and snarls down angrily. ~SUBMIT, cub, or I /will/ kill you were you lie.~

Basil feels a great flash of inner satisfaction in knowing that he just drew Kenneth's blood, the fact that it's little more then a flesh wound not registering. He growls when he hits the floor of the porch, lips pulled back in a snarl of a facial expression. The brief thought of using his toe 'claws' to rip at Kenneth's balls comes across his mind, but seeing the much more experienced Garou's position and hearing his words causes Basil to go still beneath him. He stares up at Kenneth intensely but doesn't struggle any longer, his nails digging into the porch wood.

Kenneth crooks his claw-like hand and takes a better hold of the cub's neck, holding it there with no sign of relenting. "Now /listen/ up, you fucking mouthy bastard," the Shadow Lord spits out in the lowered, angry, restrained tone of the Glabro. "Don't /ever/ let me catch you talking about one of our own goin' to the Wyrm. EVER. No ifs, no 'Maybe she'll go over to the Wyrm's. You don't fucking spew bullshit like that in front of me, GOT THAT?" His Glabro claws dig into the flesh even more, prickling points like dagger tips as the Shadow Lord sneers. A few spots of blood drips onto the exposed cub skin. "If I ever hear talk like that again, I'll fuckin' throat you. Then I'll rip your tongue out and stuff it in the hole I make in your throat." He pushes the cub's face down again. "You hear me?" The Philodox is deadly serious.

Basil just stares up at Kenneth quietly for a good few minutes before nodding his head, very slowly. Kenneth has issues, and even the cub who hasn't spent much time with people can see that. "Yes, Kenneth-Rhya." He says quietly, lowering his gaze away from the Shadow Lord's face. "I am sorry for what I said."

Kenneth's breathing comes hard and fast, remaining tensed and looking like he could simply rip out a spine or vocal chords where he is. But the Shadow Lord eventually composes himself, letting go of the cub with a quick jerk of his hand away and getting up to his feet once more. A silent snarl is etched into his features still as he half turns, wiping off the blood from the shallow cuts on his cheek. "Fuck," he spits out again, glaring at the rain. "You fuckin' talk too much. Only right you'd end up in the Gnawers," he mutters, feeling the cuts slowly healing. When they do finally patch up once more, the halfmoon shifts back to his breed form, walks to the porch railing as before and sets both hands on it, perching himself there. "The Wyrm is nothing to guess about. It's there. City's full of it. And if you're not careful, the Wyrm will eat you. It'll screw with your head first, and then make you do shit that's ten thousand kinds of Wrong." The philodox jerks his gaze to the cub again. "/Especially/ if you're an ahroun. You flip a wrong card, and the Wyrm will fuckin' rape you for all your rage is worth. You understand? It's not a joking matter. It's not a guessing game. You stick with Gaia, or you will be /dead/."

Basil slowly gets back up against after Kenneth lets him go and stops paying attention to him, keeping an eye on the teen but mostly looking out into the fields. "What has it done around here?" He ask quietly, not looking at Kenneth or anywhere near him, just remaining aware of him. "I... I will hold true, Kenneth-Rhya, to what is good. I pray I will... If I don't, I pray my brothers give me a quick death before I hurt anyone. I will do all that I can not to bring shame to us... I swear."

Kenneth stares at the cub with the intense, scrutinizing eyes of a predator before he turns away, back to the calm but dour grey sky. "See to it that you do, Baz." The halfmoon's words seem to finalize this turn of conversation, signaled also with a deeper intake and exhale of breath from the Shadow Lord. "You found a tribe. Gnawers," he goes back, retreating to the last topic of conversation. "I haven't had any good experiences with their kind."

Basil says "Yes, sir... " He murmurs quietly back to Kenneth, keeping his tone low and respectful. "May I ask what my future Tribe has done to you? And whom? I merely wish to know so that I may better consider my path. They are teaching me, showing me things, being kind to me. That is why I went to them."

Kenneth doesn't comment yet, leaving his eyes directed skyward. "Y'wanna know? First Garou I ever met was a pissant Gnawer. Name was Todd, a ragabash," he remarks, verbally kicking dirt on the name. "Punkass thought he'd steal my wallet without me knowin'. Fuckin' chased him all the way downtown I did, and cornered him in an alley. I would've let him go if he ditched the wallet and gave me my money back, maybe, but he didn't. Decided t'pick a fight instead. And the fucker fought dirty. Used some sort of wire whip shit on my face and pepper packets or something." The halfmoon snarls again, lips peeling back from clenching teeth. He wills down the displeasure of the memory after. "Some other Garou came along though, while we were fighting. Taslyn, a Fianna halfmoon. She pinned his ass I bet. Really got on his case. He was lucky I was a Garou too. That was just around the time my fetch popped." He grips the railing a touch tighter, and lets go again. "The other Gnawer who pissed me off? Joey. Just managed to convince her to join up with Requiem and we went on our totem quest. Lucas, Dillen and I all fought Fenris to the extent that they got scars t'show it. But what happens at the end? Joey ditches. Jumps ship like a rat on a sinking one, sayin' it wasn't for her." He snorts at this, but it doesn't seem nearly as angering as the anecdote about Todd.

Basil shakes his head at that. "Sorry. Sounds like you ran into a real shitheel the first time. Joey... Heh. I wouldn't expect her to fight anything. I've seen her panic, shift, and piss all over the kitchen floor just cause Brom was talking to her. She's got issues. Maybe she'll fix herself. Maybe not." He glances over at Kenneth. "What about me? Aside from talking too much."

Kenneth stands at the right side of the porch in his birthform, his eyes directed mostly skyward at the grey clouds invading the sky. His conversation is low, and rather tense but well restrained now. A few spots of blood remain smudged on his cheek and the back of his hand, but otherwise is unharmed. The Shadow Lord's hands clench and unclench against the wood of the painted railing as he talks. "You? You got guts, I'll give you that much," he utters as his reply. "But you're also too giving. Maybe that's another reason why you're with Gnawers instead of the Get or something. You don't match Brom at all. Nor will you ever." That is the Shadow Lord's prediction. "Not that we need Another one of him or anything. You just.. Do what you need to do to get shit done. Fuck the rest."

Basil's Glabro nails show the signs of blood drying on and beneath their tips, a few drops of crimson on either side of the boy where his arms hang. "Thanks, Kenneth-Rhya. Thanks. Don't worry about the giving side of me... It'll die sooner or later." He looks out down the gravel path, keeping an eye out for any new comers. "I'll never be Brom. I can only hope to be a better me..." He pauses for a moment, glancing over at Kenneth. "Something is bothering you a lot, isn't it?"

Kenneth stiffens, but it goes away quickly. His head doesn't turn to the cub, though his eyes slide in their sockets as he gazes at Basil from the corners of his eyes. "What makes you say that?" he rumbles out defensively.

Auggie can be seen coming down the lane on his bicycle, tires crunching gravel. The Gaian pedals at a leisurely pace towards the farmhouse, then stops and dismounts with ease several feet from the porch steps. He hefts the bike onto his shoulders and clomps up the steps, looking from cub to Cliath, nodding shortly to each. "Hey."

Basil glances over at Kenneth, watching him very carefully for signs of another episode. "Your tense. You just lash out easily, even more easily then Ahrouns. Your voice. Either something terrible happened to you and you've been thinking about it, or you've got a big decision on your mind." He glances over to Auggie as he comes up the driveway, nodding at him. "Hey." He grunts out.

Kenneth grits his teeth and then answers with a quick shake of his head. "It ain't nothin'. Happens all the time. And 'side from that, it's just the moon," he utters, eyes riveting towards the sound of the bicycle coming up the gravel lane. When he spots Auggie, the Shadow Lord's alert level bubbles down another millimeter or so. "Yo," he greets the Coggie, a short look over sent over the bicycle.

The bike is a nicer road model, thin tires and several gears, expensive and sleek-looking. The Gaian Ahroun carries it on his shoulders as if it were light as a feather. He narrows his eyes as he hears Basil speaking. "Playing psychiatrist now, Mr. Hero? With a Philo during his moon?" Auggie tsks and shakes his head slowly at the cub, and then turns his attention to Kenneth. "Heya. How's the pack?"

Basil turns, ignoring Auggie and opening the screen door. "I'll see you around, Kenneth-Rhya. Thank you." He says in a respectful tone. He walks off inside to avoid Auggie and possibly another argument, heading upstairs for a shower.

Kenneth doesn't make a move to stop the cub's retreat, half-turning as he faces the ahroun. "Requiem's gettin' by," he reports evenly. "Kickin' ass and taking names, per usual." The halfmoon is still just a bit tenser than usual, but keeping himself under control well now. "How's Birdseye?"

Auggie frowns as the cub turns to leave. "Goodbye, Basil," he barks after the boy, even as he's shut the door. "Little prick," he grumbles, setting down the bike and folding his arms across his chest. "All right. Kind of in a lull for me. Tu and Jana are doin' hospital stuff, me and Cole are kinda just coolin' our heels until we're needed." The Ahroun shrugs, though his frustration is obvious.

A slight twitch can be seen on the Shadow Lord's face when Auggie calls back to the departing cub before slipping back onto the topic of their respective packs. "Yeah," he utters. "With Brom restricted from settin' foot on the Bawn, he's taken to dealing with stuff around it. I've been doing my own investigation into whole situation 'bout the hiker. We're waiting on news about the tainted farmhouse and jumping cows, but figures that no one is trying anything until the moon is bigger." The halfmoon looks down towards the sleek bicycle. "Hospital's goin' on huh? Tough job out there too."

Auggie narrows his eyes and nods to the Shadow Lord. "Yeah, hospital sucks. Nexus crawler ain't tied to the place, it's just hanging out there 'cause it likes it. Why... we don't know yet." He clears his throat, and then asks, "What was the deal with the hiker? Nonkin human on the Bawn, killed. That's all I heard."

Kenneth nods once, eyes lifting from the bike back up to the ahroun's face. "Brom told me that the Uktena halfmoon, Nascha, found a lost hiker out on the south bawn. She bit him once in the leg before howling out for help, and he, Michael the Wendigo, White Bear and the Bone Gnawer ragabash got there. Go figure they'd all get there in lupus and surround the human like sharks circling prey. Then Brom took charge, shifted to homid out of view and came back out to get some answers from the guy, try to figure out if he was kin or not. Not that they really got much of a chance to find out, since he and White Bear started arguing 'cause the tribeless one wouldn't shut up about not killing the human. Wasn't 'til Brom told White Bear t'fuck off and deal with it, then White Bear killed the guy." The Shadow Lord pauses, recounting the facts in his mind. "Yep. Heard on the news on Wednesday, they found the body out in Wolf Woods, so someone took care of the mess they left behind. White Bear was pissed off that Brom defied him, so he banned him from the Bawn."

Auggie frowns. "White Bear!" he spits out the words as if they were forced from his throat with a red-hot poker. His knuckles go white as they grip on the frame of the bike. "Goddamn! Sounds like everything's 'fubar' out there with Jacinta gone. Gaia help us with that douchebag in charge of the Guardians!" The Gaian looks away, his jaw beginning to set tight. Through gritted teeth, he asks with as much composure as he can muster, "Does Megan know about it?"

Kenneth flickers his gaze up sharply with the exclaimation, his shouldermuscles twitching in tension like he is ready to dance backwards out of claw-swiping range. "I'm sure the Sept Alpha has heard of this by now, considering the Warder has also likely heard of it. Stacey, Emma, Dillen, hell the talk about this has spread like fire on a dry summer day. But no one seems to have the full /unbiased/ story," he replies, stressing a single word. "Which is why I and a few others are gonna look into it, see what comes out after sifting through the flour."

Auggie lets out a low noise in the back of his throat, a gravelly sound partway between a grunt and a growl. He nods slowly. "Huh." His shoulders arch up and then fall in an exaggerated shrug. "Nothing's ever -not- unbiased. People tell a story based on how -they- saw it, ya know? Memory's a spin doctor, folks tryin' to make themselves look good, convince -themselves- they're hot shit," the boy grumbles, still looking away from Kenneth. Abruptly, his eyes snap back to fall on the Shadow Lord's face. "But you're a judge, that's what you do. Piece together all the little lies to find the big truth... Gaia be with you." The Ahroun's anger has only ebbed slightly, now mixing with an ample dose of cynicism.

Kenneth allows himself a flicker of expression, in the form of a slight, ever so smirky smile of confidence that shows just how Shadow Lord-like the youth is without even knowing it. "I'll get the truth out of it, even if I don't have that Gift." The halfmoon then turns to go, headed down the steps once more from the porch. "If you do happen to see Michael the Wendigo or Nascha the Uktena," he notes, "maybe you can get a better, clearer story out of them."

Auggie shrugs. "Yeah, we'll see. Truth is all subjective anyway," he mutters darkly, in a tone that might or might not indicate sarcasm. He watches Kenneth head down the stairs, and raises a hand in a silent farewell, dark brown eyes still flickering with leftover Rage sparked by the news of White Bear's behavior.

Kenneth pauses as the droplets of light rain renew themselves, wetting his shirt once more. "Indeed it can be," he notes, "but it's all part of a grander, colder Truth." The capitalization is there. Then, he lifts a hand from his hip to wave farewell, and starts back off down the lane, the sound of gravel crunching beneath him indicating his departure.