Saul and Vika

8/12/2007

11:48 AM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.

Currently the moon is in the waning New Moon phase (7% full).
It is currently 11:44 Pacific Time on Sun Aug 12 2007.
Currently in Saint Claire, it is partly sunny. The temperature is 61 degrees Fahrenheit (16 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the south at 3 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.07 and rising, and the relative humidity is 70 percent. The dewpoint is 51 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius.)

Farmhouse: Fields
What once was worked cropland has been, over the last several years, allowed to go to seed, and the result is the natural prarie which has developed, enclosed on three sides by the forest. It covers several acres of land with grasses as high as a person's waist, large enough to be out of earshot of the barnyard but uniform enough that anyone in bipedal form could be seen approaching through it.
The looming buildings of the farm can be seen to the south.
Contents:
Vika
Saul
Obvious exits:
BarnYard  

[look Vika (homid)]
She is tall for a teenage girl. At a solid five-feet-ten, she seems a little uncomfortable for it: her shoulders slump forward as if she's used to hunching to disguise her height. Her skin is light, blessed by clarity and cursed by a morass of pale freckles splattered over her face all the way to her collar. Hair the color of copper-touched brown springs around her face and shoulders. Its a wild mass of coiled, frizzy curls that swing around her face and shoulders. A leather strip is wrapped, Grecian-style, like a headband, but all that manages is to keep the worst of the weight off her forehead and temples. Her mouth is full, her nose a little wide, and her jaw gentler with a touch of thrust. Her eyes are red-lashed, so light a green they almost seem translucent.
Her figure is made of curves and a thicker build than American culture allows. What once was excess weight is starting to shape into something more toned. Jeans sit low on her waist and flare over a pair of plain sneakers. A grey scoop-necked tee-shirt and a low-cut vee-neck sweater in light pink wrap over her figure. She usually can be found with a dark green backpack slung over one shoulder. Three earrings at each ear, and the lobe holds red spirals tapered from back to front. A black pleather cuff sits at one wrist and a cheap plastic green watch is at the other. Shoved-up sleeves show that her arms are also freckled.

[look Saul (homid)]
This boy stands just over five and a half feet tall, his green-brown eyes half covered by unruly bangs. His hair is four to five inches in length, a dark brown with shocks of blonde throughout. He weighs a hundred and thirty pounds at most, tanned skin pulled tight over a wiry frame. He is obviously young though his face seems somewhat harsh for a child, weather beaten with sharp angles and without a trace of fat. His clothing is neutral in color, a green t-shirt with brown or tan pants.
In colder weather he is generally seen wearing a worn discount suede leather jacket, brown in front and black in the back and along the back of the arms. Without his jacket a crescent shaped bulge can be seen under his shirt, hanging from a leather thong around his neck.

Out in the fields at almost noon, Kenneth, having gathered to him what cubs in the farmhouse he found readily, stands them loosely about in the high grasses. "Suppose you want to know why called you out here," he remarks as they come to stand almost in the center of the area in general, plenty of distance away from the barn and farm. "To be honest, I hate interruptions." Not a real bone of humor to his tone can be found, yet. "So, now that we're out here, let me be first to say I'm not the best, nor the most patient of teachers. You two aren't any older than I am, so it's weird. But, we're out here. So first thing's first. What's been going on with the two of you?"

Saul raises an eyebrow at the introduction and does not respond immediately. After a moment, when it becomes apparent that Kenneth is waiting for an answer, he shrugs, "Erm, not much. No offense, but that's a vague question."

The direct stare Viktoriya gives Kenneth isn't eye-to-eye, but her pale gaze is affixed firmly to Kenneth's mouth as if she's reading what's being said. Or could. After she's sure Saul is done, she says, with her too-thick accent, "Lessons. Is being lessons from near dawn to being night." She holds up a finger. "There is being fighting." Another. "And there is being spirits." And a third. "And there is being lessons on history." After a moment, she drops her hands with a small, polite smile. "And there is being other things not falling into category. How best for surviving life things."

Kenneth thumbs over in Vika's direction. "/That/ is what I'm looking for," he replies at Saul after a moment's pause to see if Vika says anything more. "Unless you're saying you got in some kind of trouble that I ought to know about." But, he interrupts comments with a held up hand. "I don't come out here all too often. Not 'til you cubs started showing up, and suddenly Moon Otter and Vera pop in on the cave... anyway. I meant your training. Your 'status'. You two think you're ready for your Rite?"

Saul shifts his gaze from Vika back to the elder Philodox, face expressionless, "I believe so, yes."

At this, Viktoriya's gaze meets Saul's briefly, coincidentally. But it's with careful contemplation that she turns her eyes back to Kenneth. "Not until I am learning more of Shadow Lord history, tradition." She says this slowly, like she's thinking about it as it comes out of her mouth. "But this I am learning now from Moon Otter. We are starting these lessons just recent."

"So," Kenneth continues in a more or less casual manner, hands slipping into his pockets, "tell me a bit more about yourselves, then. In a way that'd be fit to call you a Shadow Lord." The philodox's gaze travels from one face to the other, still masked with an air of neutrality.

Saul's eyes narrow for a moment, then close entirely into a long blink. The boy intertwines his fingers behind his head and moves his left foot into a step backwards. "I don't know if this is a test or not, Kenneth. And the most important thing I've learned has been to know what you're getting into before you get into it." The boy shifts his gaze to the Cliath's face, "Taking action without thought can be worse than taking no action at all." Tipping his head slightly to the right Saul continues, "So I'm afraid until I know quite what you're getting at, that's the best answer I can give you."

The tall girl opens her mouth, pauses, closes it again, and then looks at Saul with the same air of contemplation she had given Kenneth. But given her polite raising, Viktoriya remains quiet until the other cub has his near-question answered.

Kenneth shoulders lift partially and drop. "Call it a test if you want, but I'm not handing out any scores at the end. Really, I'm just finding out what it is you cubs are out here learning, what it is you have learned. It's not about the material. Hell, every cub who has two cents in the bank knows what the Litany is, or what the auspices are, or some something stupid you could learn by flashcard." The philodox rakes a hand through his hair. "I'm more interested in knowing how it's being applied. Anything that came up recently you might've found, reminded you of our Ways."

The boy gives a nod at that, but pauses a moment before responding. His eyes drift to the nearby woods, then back to Kenneth. "An Ahroun is a warrior for Gaia. As you said, any cub who's been here a day knows that. But for the Shadow Lords, being an Ahroun is not just about fighting and killing. That is for the Get. A Shadow Lord Ahroun must lead, they must think of the plans that no one else will. They must consider options that would be considered 'treacherous' by other tribes. In the war against the Wyrm we must use every tool at our disposal to win. There are too few Garou as it is. There is no reason to lose lives in a frontal assault if we could sneak in at night and kill them in their sleep. Or find a Walker to set a bomb and blow their whole building to hell." The boy gives a shrug, then waits for Vika's reply.

Pale red eyebrows knot as Viktoriya takes her time in answering. She speaks slowly, still, but it's more as if she's running each word through a mental translator. "There is being very little big things happening when one is being placed here on the farm land," she says contemplatively. "But there is always being small things I am listening for. I am learning that there is being tradition, and there is being progression. And then," she adds with a smile, "there is being this Sept. And while one or other are both being good, all is rooted in tradition. Litany. Laws. And this Sept is needing good, strong Garou who are understanding that progression is made in tradition, and tradition is supporting progression, but stagnation is not being good. And so I am learning what is compromise, and what is... law." Her mouth twists slightly. "And most of all, am learning role of philodox makes few friends."

Every word receives attention from the cliath. Kenneth betrays no approval nor disapproval, however, only giving the smallest of nods here and there. "And these philosophies are all well and good, but be more specific. Narrow it down for me, I don't get out here much. Any little thing that comes to mind where these ideals of yours /worked/. Or didn't. Anything at all?"

Saul frowns and points at the U-shaped bulge under his T-shirt, "I think you know where these ideas formed, Kenneth."

The look she gives Saul is clearly puzzled, but Viktoriya says, "I am learning that Garou are not speaking to each other before assuming half-ideas and things. There is one time when Moon Otter-rheeya, he is assuming Stacey-rheeya is trying for claiming me. But he is not talking for Stacey-rheeya. Instead, he is coming to me angry. So I am counseling that he is speaking to Stacey-rheeya, but not accusing her at first. And he is agreeing, but he is less angry now. This is good." She pauses, thinking, and then continues, "My ideals, they are being fairness. Justice. Strength of law, resepct. But this is so even before I am coming here."

Kenneth nods slowly at Vika once more, commenting with a quiet, "I think I've heard about that one. Stacey happens to be a good Garou. And despite her being an ahroun, no offense, Saul, she's not one to fly off the handle about the little things." A pause. "Much." The philodox, now looking at Saul however, narrows his eyes at the fullmoon. "And I'd rather hear it from you straight. What do you mean, 'where these ideas formed'?"

Saul tips his head slightly to the left and looks at the Cliath for a long moment before reaching into his shirt and pulling out what appears to be an oversized human jaw. When he speaks it is very softly, and very evenly, "I thought you'd heard. This is a reminder for me. It is mine. Vera took it from me, then gave it back. It is a reminder of what happens when you act without thinking and charge straight in. I'd rather not talk about it now. If you want the details, I will tell you. But later."

The boy pulls his shirt away from his neck and slides the jaw back inside without further comment.

Viktoriya narrows her eyes at the jaw, bemused and recoiling slightly, but she says nothing. The discussion here seems to be between them.

The human jaw gets a lesser reaction from Kenneth. "Right. Your failed test. I don't know about you but I wasn't exactly the top of Vera's list of gold star candidates at the time. Doubt I am still. But one thing's for sure. You got a strange taste in jewelry, Voodoo," he utters. "And while I'd like to hear about it, talking about passage rites just reminds me of my own. And I'm not inclined to go there just yet." Sniffing once, the halfmoon rubs a finger beneath his nose. "On that note. You got any questions you feel like asking?"

Saul raises an eyebrow, seeming genuinely amused, "Not in specific. More of in general. I have been gone a while, I'm still somewhat out of touch. Other than... was that really the only reason you asked us to come out here?"

"For once," Viktoriya says wryly, "am having no answers needed for giving. I am thinking that most questions I am haviong are already being answered in lessons."

"Should I have had a purpose to ask you out here?" counter-questions Kenneth. "I already said I hated interruptions. Well if you two don't have questions, then I have one more for you. What do you plan on doing, once you've passed your rite?" The query aims for both.

With a thin smile, Saul answers Kenneth's counter-question with a shrug. His real question, however, is answered without hesitation, "Find people who I can trust and who think the way I do and start a pack. Claim some unmarked territory, perhaps here in the woods, more likely in the city. There's more work to be done there. Make that territory safe, or as safe as it can be made, and set up a base there. That is my first set of goals, when they become un-realistic or are completed I will look at how things are and what to do next."

"Learning about spirits for packs," Viktoriya says promptly on the heels of that, or at least as prompt as she can given the various levels of mental translation happening. "And then learning about packs formed and forming, and deciding if I am am best serving in pack or as self. Am still intending for learning tradition and story of things, since am not assuming I am knowing everything at time of rite, da?" A quick smile. "Am also planning for serving some time as guardian, since guardians are keeping cubs and caern safe, and I am able for returning favor for new cubs and caern." She pauses, then adds modestly, "If guardians are willing."

Kenneth starts to fold his arms over his chest, but then aborts the motion. For the first time since the beginning of the talk, his eyes turn away from them and towards the caern. "I'm sure the sept will be 'thrilled' to have a couple more Shadow Lords about," he says, unable to conceal the bit of flatness to his tone. When he turns back to look at them, it's with a final nod. "Then that's all I've got. For now, anyway. You two seem to be well on your way."

Saul's face remains expressionless as he studies the Cliath for a long moment. "Kenneth..." he begins, but then trails off. After another moment he shakes his head, "Never mind. I'll talk to you once I can speak to you as an equal." He gives the Philodox a bow of the head.

"Thanking," Viktoriya says with the same note of polite manners about her. It's not aloof, really, so much as it just seems she's been raised that way. "Am hoping to be good Garou. If is all?" She points toward the woods a way. "Am needing for returning soon to Moon Otter for more learning how to take a hit." There's a note of humor there, self-deprecating.

Kenneth arches his brow at the ahroun as he is studied. There's even a touch of the beginnings of a staredown, but those pull back as Saul shakes off. "We hope that's soon," replies the philodox, also politely. To Viktoriya, he simply smirks. "Roll with the punches, and use the energy they direct at you against them. And yes, that is all. I'll see you both around."

Saul turns at that and heads for the woods at a jog, quickly accelerating into a full run. Within moments the boy has entered the woods and disappeared from view.

"Having good day," Viktoriya says cheerfully to Saul and Kenneth. She turns and, pushing her loose, frizzy curls over her shoulders, she heads toward another section of the woods, where Moon Otter gives lessons. "Roll with punches," she can be heard to say as she goes. "Using energy. Roll, energy. Is using. Good."

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