[look Stone slab
This is a large flat slab that appears to be a fragment of the great crystalline boulder that once graced the caern's center. On its surface, written in sap, are the names of all those who have died over the many years in the caern's defense, with glyphs of breed, tribe, auspice. Painted in blood at the top are more familiar names: Kyle, Roger, Max, Quick, Nevada, Megaera. Above them is the glyph of a circle. At the foot of the list, written in stark letters: They have not died in vain.]

It's not all that uncommon a sight, really. A small fire burning in the firepit, a pack of hotdogs and a bag of marshmallows on the ground beside the Fianna Theurge. He does that when he's feeling a little more up for company than normal, start a little cookout and just see if the smell of food and smoke brings anyone his way.

Shadows twist and bend with the invasion of firelight, casting a dance of random choreography into the surrounding forest. Sure enough, the smell of food and smoke does lure in the hungry traveler in the form of the worst - the Gnawer. The crackling flames seem to be the only company at the moment, but soon the ragabash's form melds out of the shadows. The fire makes her fur even more red, soaking into the hues and playing off the ivory undersides to turn it orange. She chuffs with a greeting and announcing herself at the fostern, wrapping a respectful intonation all in one breath.

Luke smiles and aims a wave in the Gnawer's direction. "Hey. You're welcome to join me, though you have to do your own cooking." Not that hotdogs or marshmallows really _have_ to be cooked, of course, but it just isn't the same sitting around a campfire and eating them raw.

Three-Blades tilts her nose at the bag of marshmallows, which certainly smell a lot different in lupus than in homid. Not even going to mention the hotdogs there, as she pulls up beside the fostern with a given sort of space between them. Do you always come out here and make fires alone? She'd smile, but rather just a bemused look covers her features.

Luke says "Not always. But sometimes. A fire's inviting; you get people joining you that you might not otherwise talk to."

Three-Blades slips her tongue out at that statement. You hardly are in the Scab, too. I thought I would come and hunt a bit, to help Fox out. The Gnawer's ears tilt forward. I remember asking you about Fox... your advice helped.

Luke says "Nah, don't really make it out there much. Occasionally to visit friends." He sighs, "But my main reason for going has moved to the east coast." He shrugs a bit. What can you do? "But anyway, I'm glad I was able to help. You want me to get you anything out of the package, or are you gonna cook it?" You have to be humanoid to cook, and fingers he doesn't mind on his food. Wolf slobber is somewhat less appetizing."

Three-Blades gives the hotdogs and marshmallows another consideration. Ears twitch as she debates this, but sure enough the Gnawer reverts to her breed form swiftly. Back in clothes, Yi gives her mussed hair a bit of a finger-combing. "This reminds me of a TV show," she says while sidling over to pluck out a marshmallow and a hotdog. She does so with barely a touch onto the others than her chosen 'targets'. "The kind when the kids are camping, and they tell ghost stories around the fire." She laughs quietly, thinking that if there was such a thing as scary things in these woods, it would be the pair of them.

Luke grins, sliding over on the log he's sitting on to make room for her. "Only we know there really _are_ ghosts all around us. Or spirits, anyway. And we wouldn't have to make our stories up."

"And real ghosts, too," Yi nods with a momentary glance to the log before sitting upon it. She hunts around for a stick, then decides to use a knife instead as her spit. On go both marshmallow and wiener onto a long butterfly that seems to have come from her person. "So aside from crazy animals with demon numbers carved on their sides running around the bawn, what is going on with your life?"

Luke says "Like I mentioned, Vicki is moving out east. Be closer to her mom. She's only been gone a couple of days, but I miss her already. Better news, Alicia has challenged me for Fostern. With Nightfire gone, we talked to Peacekeeper-rhya, and now I've just gotta get my task for her okayed before the next moot."

Yi takes her eyes off her knife a moment, to look at Luke. "Alicia challenged for rank? I thought she would, sooner or later." The Gnawer pulls off the marshmallow and picks at its slightly browned side. "Vicki will be safer, I think. And her children, and Glissa's daughter." She pauses while chewing down the rest of the marshmallow. "So what do you have in mind for her?"

Luke nods. "I hope so, at least. Not that anywhere is _really_ safe." He waggles his finger at her. "That would be telling. Can't do that prior to the moot. But I think it'll be a good test of her as a Gaian and as a Galliard."

Yi arches a brow, and then quirks her lip up in a similar manner with a nod. "The suspense will be almost unbearable," she tells him with not really a literal meaning, but she does have the curiosity to know. "What is interesting, is I can remember when you and Alicia were both cubs. Now look at you two. One a fostern, and another challenging to be. How is the second rank treating you?" The Gnawer pokes the hot dog a bit, and then holds it back to the fireside.

Luke laughs. "Yeah, I do, too. The time flies. Doesn't seem like all that long ago that we were goofing off in the barn as wolves, you trying to knock me over. I think that was the first time we met, though." He nods, then. "pretty decent, all-in-all. Still so much that I've got to learn, though." He takes a marshmallow from the bag, and pops it into his mouth without raosing it first.

Yi smiles a bit, remembering that day like, well, like it was yesterday. "You know... I never heard about how your challenge went. You stepped into an Umbral quest, right? Something about stones." She sucks on a tooth in thought, before snagging the slightly charred hot dog back from burning near the fire.

Luke says "Yeah. Rides-Fire hid four fragments of a river rock in the Umbra. He gave me a clue for each, and then my task was to find and reoover them -- which sometimes took a task for the spirit that held it -- and then to return the stone to him, whole again."

"Did you have to go to really strange places in the Umbra to find them?" Yi asks with a tilt of her head. "What sort of spirit was holding the rock?"

Luke says "I had to go to various areas on and around the bawn. One was held by a falcon spirit from the mountains, another by a tirtle spirit out at lake Arthur. The third bya mouse spirit in the woods, and the fourth by the unicorn spirit that Rides-Fire once ran with. Falcon asked for a story that demonstrated the honor of his tribe, the turtle wanted to be fed g, the mouse...well, my last pack was under Owl, so Segreti has a little to do with that...and I also lived under Unicorn's ban for a month, to aid the Unicorn spirit."

Yi slowly nods with each naming of the spirits, pausing only with the mention of the mouse. Wasn't a rat, but. She gives the theurge a smile, before standing up slowly to stretch. The hot dog at some time must have been eaten. "Well if the challenge you give Alicia is as interesting as yours was, I think it will be a bigger pleasure to hear about it. Better, that Alicia is a galliard." She adjusts her flannel jacket a bit, and then takes a long deep breath of the fire-warmed air mixing with the cool night. "I think I should be getting back to the city, though. So, while it is impolite... I should be on patrol there."

Luke says "Hey, just don't be such a stranger, y'know?"

Yi chuckles softly, wiping off her knife on the grass before slipping it away. "And the same to you. Come by sometime, if only for a little bit of time. Say hi to us 'urrah'." She grins at him, and remembers to dip her head in thanks. "And thank you for the brief campfire snack."

Luke says "Was my pleasure. And I'll do that. Might even buy a pizza or two, if you play your cards right."

Yi smiles wryly and notes, "If you come to the city for pizza, it will be my treat." And then, she's shifting back down to lupus, disappearing into the woodwork of the bawn forest. A short yip bids the fostern farewell.