4/16/2005

10:53 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.

Currently the moon is in the waxing Half Moon phase (53% full).
Currently in Saint Claire, it is a cloudy day. The temperature is 45 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the north at 3 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.00 and steady, and the relative humidity is 82 percent. The dewpoint is 40 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius.)
It is currently 22:29 Pacific Time on Sat Apr 16 2005.

Bawn: Eastern Forest(#2990RA)
Gradually, the dense forest gives way to more mixed vegetation, as trees become less pervasive and undergrowth takes over. Spotty clearings filled with short scrub and bushes dominate the forest floor, with only a few game trails to make paths through the tangled growth. The forest that is here seems to loom, as if resenting handing over land to lesser plants. Small rustlings come from the bushes and patches of high grass. Who knows what is concealed here?
To the north, the sounds of the interstate are audible in the distance, while to the east, the ground begins to rise into tumbled piles of rocks and shallow gullies.
Contents:
Stacey
Obvious exits:
Bone Arches  Into the Caern  Southern Bawn  Northern Bawn  Central Bawn  Eastern Mountains  

Sniff sniff. Smells like Philodox. Smells like Rage. Smells like.. a Shadow Lord. And a peculiarly pungent smell of shampoo, soap, antiseptic, disinfectant, some plastic and probably some kind of... chocolate? Kenneth tramps through the Eastern Bawn forest, making little effort to disguise his homid blundering through the dark. Took him all day to finally get here, but here he is, and thank Gaia, it's not raining.

That's right, folks. It's only cloudy tonight. Walks-Middle, a.k.a Peacemaker, is running through the eastern bawn on a night patrol, when she comes across the unusual scent of... chocolate. With a childlike excitement and curiosity, the wolf shifts her direction towards the Shadow Lords scent, running at full speed.

Kenneth tramps like any proper stupid city-born human who wasn't raised by wolves, working his way through the brush and squinting out around the darkness as he stops every so often. His sweat from such a long haul from the city seems to have taken a toll even on the most physically fit, and it shows in his scent as well as his sight. The halfmoon pauses to rest, leaning against a tree and breathing out a sigh. A tension still runs through him that is always there, but particularly tonight with Luna's opening eye still half closed.

Walks-Middle runs until she comes within the general vicinity of the Shadow Lord, judging his location by scent and sound, then she slows her pace to a walk. She chuffs out a happy greeting, apparently in a good mood tonight, and continues toward him, stopping a friendly distance away, panting still from the sprint.

As Walks comes closer, Kenneth hears the chuff and looks around with squinting eyes and searching ears. Human senses failing however, he moves to a break in the trees where there is a sliver of moonlight shining through, allowing his vision to adjust a bit with the added rays. It's a little while longer before the lupus'ed ahroun's form is made visible to him by pure movement only, caught from the corner of his eye and the Shadow Lord turns to watch her. He's tense at first, not sure who it is in the dim surroundings, but after IDing the markings and the generally friendly nature, Ken relaxes a touch. "Hey Stace," he says aloud, unafraid of who might be listening in. "Fancy meetin' you out here huh?" Poor attempt at some humor, the tone is all wrong and with a speck of the Shadow Lord's sarcastic cynicism. He still smells like chocolate and sugar through the chemical disinfectant and soap. And why becomes clear, as his hands and arms are bandaged tightly, with only the ends of the long strips wrapping them hanging down beside his fingers. The Shadow Lord adjusts the light black jacket he has on him, and stoops down to the wolf's eye level.

Walks-Middle lolls out her tongue at the attempted humor, tilting her head. As he stoops down, she pads forward, sniffing at his hands with a confused, disgusted expression. She lifts her head a bit to look at him, wondering what happened to hurt him.

Kenneth doesn't flinch or retreat when the wolf approaches, letting her smell him. And by the smell of the wounds underneath his bandaged arms, they are Not normal. In fact, piercing the chemical smells is the distinct supernatural smell of what registers as Wrong or Poison to the wolfsense. But still he reaches into his jacket, and shuffles out a very Weavery Gladware container, in which the scent of the chocolate is coming from. "Dillen, Jacinta, Emma and I were out near the wharves last night," he says, placing the Gladware onto the dirt and pushing it over with a knuckle. "Ran into some kind of Wyrmy garbageman who was carvin' people up like a butcher in an abandoned warehouse." The Shadow Lord's face twitches with evident discomfort, and his right hand grabs at his left forearm, squeezing hard. It's a few moments before he can continue. "Guy scratched me up with his claws. Guess he had some kind of poison or something." Kenneth does his best to work off the urge to scratch underneath the bandages.

Walks-Middle looks worried and whines as she smells that the wounds are wrong somehow, lifting a fore-paw off the ground slightly. She is distracted for a moment as the container with chocolate is pushed forward, and she lowers her head to sniff at that, which smells much better than Kenneth's hands. She licks the sides of her mouth and then looks up at Kenneth, tilting her head questioningly. Then she's once more distracted as he grabs his left arm, letting out another whine. Dagger's-Edge is still in pain? Will be all right?

Kenneth grits his teeth, rolling back to sit on the ground that is still a bit wet from the rains. He lets go of his arm, settling them both upon his bent knees. "I'll be alright," he insists with restraint. "Just have to rest and heal in Glabro or something. Guy had claws and some kind of rash all over him, like real bad athlete's foot. Freakin' nasty. Dillen and I took him out and got rid of his body. Took a lotta cans of gasoline for it though." His shoetoe pokes at the Gladware container again, directing attentions down at the tupperware. "Y'better eat these and make sure the scent doesn't trail too far," he says. "Thought you needed a reminder of the city out here. God knows you must be going crazy with just rabbits and squirrels and wholesome raw deer to fill you up with."

Walks-Middle still looks worried, but agrees that being in another form will help. It is good that the bad man was stopped. She sniffs again at the chocolate and then looks up at Kenneth, lolling out her tongue in a lupine grin. Dagger's-Edge is kind to think of her, thank you. It will be a good break from the usual. Suddenly the wolf blinks and steps back, tilting her head and whining inquisitively. You spoke of Pierces-Ice. Is she well? Did the bad one hurt her? Is her pup okay?

Kenneth shrugs a shoulder at the first, eyes turning off from the wolf to the woods as he replies quietly, "It's nothin'. Cadbury eggs were on sale and all. Easter was over long time ago and the stores're still trying to get rid of 'em." He then catches the latter, eyes turning back with the whine. "Jacinta's alright. Not a scratch on her actually." He pauses, thinking of the aftermath. "Yeah, she didn't shift durin' the fight, but Dillen and I kept the guy busy. Emma was holdin' onto the door so that we could see what we were hittin' instead of ending up clawing each other to pieces in the dark." Kenneth nods to confirm this report. "Don't know what Jacinta was doin' all the way downtown by the wharves, or Emma, but... least they were there." He then bends a bandanged hand down to scoop up the tupperware, opening it up and releasing the strong chocolate and sugar cream scent of the candy eggs wrapped in foil. Plucking one out, he unwraps the foil and removes the egg, holding it out to the wolf with an open palm. The egg is still cool, luckily. The weather isn't warm enough to melt the chocolate and perservatives.

Walks-Middle ignores the sale comment and seems relieved by hearing that Jacinta is all right, wagging her tail to show that she is pleased by the news. She tilts her head in mild curiosity at the musing about them being at the wharf, but shrugs that off and watches as Kenneth pulls out one of the chocolate eggs and holds it out to her. She tilts her head in the other direction, sniffing at it, and then reaches out to gingerly pluck it out of Kenneth's hand, careful not to touch him - or the bandages - as she does so. The wolf lowers her head and turns away a bit as she bites into the chocolate, chewing it enough that she can swallow it.

Unflinching again, even as the wolf's whiskers brush against his palm, Kenneth waits for her to consume the egg before he lowers his hand back to his knee. "I thought chocolate was poisonous to d--..." He stops himself midsentence, blinking, narrowing his eyes and shaking his head to rid himself of that thought quickly. "I mean, you should... maybe, shift back. 'Cause, I dunno if that tastes good to you or not in that form. But it probably tastes best in homid." The Shadow Lord backpedals in his words, awkward and tense. He pushes the gladware further forward instead, using it as an idle movement to cover up the blunder.

Walks-Middle steps back and bares her teeth at the Shadow Lord, the hackles on her back rising and her tail raising in almost a challenge. She snaps in his direction and growls, looking as un-doglike as possible. Then she huffs at him, growls again, and turns to walk off out of sight into the nearby bushes, her posture showing that she is thoroughly annoyed. She doesn't leave, though, and she can be heard growling, and then finally muttering, as she shifts into homid.

Kenneth tenses with the snap and growls, a part of him fighting against the urge to jerk his head up and off to the side. It fails in the fight, though, and the Shadow Lord 'submits' with a snap of his chin up and off, revealing throat. As Stacey moves off to shift, he slaps his forehead lightly and groans to himself for the faux pas. "Stace," he calls back towards her, but not moving to pursue. "Stace, I didn't... I wasn't trying to..." Grunt. Grumble. Mutter. "Stacey, I'm sorry."

Stacey grows quiet as Kenneth speaks, and steps back into visible range, now once again a little girl, more subdued. She walks back over to him, her expression both solemn and surprised, a strange mixture. The girl nods and lowers herself to the ground, sitting cross-legged. "I accept your apology," she says, and then offers a small smile. "Although I probably deserved that for not thinking."

Kenneth doesn't look up just yet, hand still to forehead, eyes closed as he mentally beats himself. When he does open his eyes again to look at the girl, he's back to a semi-calm, but there're a residue of anguish. "I wasn't tryin' to call you a dog. If anything, /I/ wasn't thinking." He breathes out slowly, eyes lowering down to the remaining three foil-wrapped eggs. "So... I don't know how kosher it is t' have Gladware and foil on the bawn." He flicks his gaze up. "You're not gonna get on my case for havin' Weaver-chocolate-eggs out here. Are you?"

Stacey narrows her eyes in mock disbelief as he tries to explain, annoyed enough to give him a hard time, then she smiles and shrugs. "Well," she says, but never vocalizes the rest of that thought. "Nah, I won't get on your case, as long as none of it is left on the bawn, ya know. That'd be bad." She falls silent for a moment, still looking a bit moody, then shrugs. "So... how's the pack?"

Kenneth lowers his gaze again, finding a reflection of the moonlight upon the red and blue foil to be too interesting. "S'alright," he utters as a reply, even though there are undertones of disatisfaction. "Can't complain. We do our patrols, we got our turf, and that's... pretty much it. Brom does his thing with his kin, Dillen wanders doin' whatever... I do whatever." The halfmoon glances up a little, not exactly meeting the girl's eyes. "It's.. just.. peachy."

Stacey frowns and then nods. "Well, at least things didn't fall apart completely, right?" She reaches out to pick up a pine needle, absently turning it in her hands. It is actually a long moment before she speaks, as the girl stares downward, lost in sad thoughts. Finally, she clears her throat. "Things usually have a way of working out," she says. "I hope I end up with a good pack, one that'll work together well when they need to, that we'll do great things for Gaia."

Kenneth looks up as he seems to make out the sadness in the silence. As Stacey speaks, he waits, drawing out another silence after her words. Then he nods once, slowly. "You'll be great, Stacey. You got the stuff for it." And he sounds sincere. Kenneth doesn't make another comment about his pack though. "Who do you have in mind? For... your pack."

Stacey smiles. "Thanks. It's good to know some people thing so," she says, and then she wrinkles her nose and shrugs. "I haven't really done much searching lately, not out here. I've told some people my ideas, but... Joey's the only one I'm sure about. She'll be better when she returns." She shrugs again. "I've mostly been using this time to plan stuff, figure out what I'll tell people. Gotta have a plan in order for people to agree to it, right? Grey agreed that Uktena would be a good choice for what I'm thinking of. So... I'm gonna learn more about that, ask Theurges, maybe Tobin or Jamethon-rhya. Tobin's going to teach me sword-play at Falcon's Rest after I'm done here."

Kenneth lifts his brows at mention of swordplay. "Yea? Jarred..." The Shadow Lord trails, but resumes, "taught me and Lucas how to fence a little. And, after Brom taught me how to dedicate stuff... I gotta find that rapier back at the End and see if I can attune it like the way he did with his sledgehammer." The halfmoon looks thoughtful, then flattens out once more in expression. "You'll probably get real good at fencing, huh?"

Stacey grins. "Well, I think it'd be fun to learn, and maybe useful, even if Auggie doesn't think so. I've never worked with swords before, though, really, although Tobin taught me how to clean them once. That would be cool, though, if you were about to do what Brom can."

Kenneth rolls a shoulder, fingering the fallen pine needles beneath him. "Yea," he replies. "Dillen decided to buy this huge-ass axe of some kind that's meant for weedwhacking instead of combat, thinking he's gonna dedicate that or something and use it to fight." Kenneth doesn't look up from his averted, wandering gaze. "But then, he's a Get." Again the catchall sentence that the Shadow Lord has taken to using. "So yeah. But there's something 'bout swords... y'learn more about yourself. And more about it. I watched a sword tournament before. Kendo, and Iaido. There's... definitely more to it than just hacking and slashing." He looks back over, then down to the foiled eggs again.