Dedicating Basil's Clothes

4/19/2005

04:34 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.

Currently the moon is in the waxing Gibbous Moon phase (72% full).
Currently in Saint Claire, it is mostly sunny today. The temperature is 61 degrees Fahrenheit (16 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from variable directions at 5 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.18 and falling, and the relative humidity is 47 percent. The dewpoint is 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius.)
It is currently 16:11 Pacific Time on Tue Apr 19 2005.

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  

Midafternoon, and Yi is on the porch of the farmhouse after leaving the Mystery Mobile somewhere far off and walking the rest of the way. Her hair's just a bit more grown out, though it's hard to tell for those that see her constantly. She's leaning out on the railing, eyes checking out something interesting down on the ground below.

Basil walks up from around the left side of the house, a usual passive and calm look hanging about him. He heads up the steps of the house and sits down on the edge of the porch, laying back, glancing at Yi. "Hey. Sorry I had to go, Olga wants me out here to be Christine's friend or something. Lost cause. How you doing?"

Yi looks up at first footsteps, nodding to him briefly as he comes up the steps. "That's Ok," she replies to him, eyes turning down to the fascinating grass beneath the porch. "Christine is a Bone Gnawer too. She is more than a friend. She is a tribe-sister." There's little to say in reply to the latter question. "I am fine, though. Thank you for asking." She gives pause, then asks, "You said there were rats in the farmhouse?"

Basil shrugs his shoulders, his fingers idly playing up and down his stomach. "Yeah. Maybe. But she doesn't want anything to do with me, doesn't really talk to me, so until she changes I'm leaving her to think. Alone." He places his hands behind his head for a makeshift pillow. "Salright. And yeah, there are. Olga gave me one to take care of, too. He's got an injured leg or something, kinda scrawny looking. Still boring out here."

Yi looks back up from her grass inspection. "Oh?" It's unclear which part she's 'oh'ing to. "Where are you keeping him?"

Basil says "In a shoebox, that I've put inside a bit of tupperware. Put a few papers in there, and a toilet paper tube. Been feeding him this and that, seems to be getting a little bigger."

Yi nods twice, flipping around to lean with her back to the rail. "So Christine still has not been convinced, hm? Moon is getting full though... she will eventually feel it."

Basil shrugs his shoulders again. "And she'll keep denying. She doesn't want to go into the Umbra either. I don't want to deal with her anymore, I let her have the barn."

Yi tilts her head back, gazing idly at the covering over the porch. "So that is it?" she asks the cub. "That's all you are going to do? Give up on her?"

Basil shakes his head and sits up, looking out over the driveway, then into the sky. "No. But she doesn't want my help right now. I've got better things to do then to be a masochist."

Yi wets her lips, not replying for nearly a minute. "What sort of things?" she asks him afterwards, looking to him curiously.

Basil says "I'm not entirely sure. But I know I don't want to sit around all day taking verbal abuse from her. I can go piss off one of the Get if I want to be kicked about, and they'd be done with it faster too."

Yi shakes her head slightly. "Then you have missed her spirit's cry," she remarks quietly. "It is there, locked inside. We may not have the key, but we must help her find it. She might push us away. She might kick us, or whip us with her tongue. But that is expected. But we cannot leave her alone. We cannot allow her spirit to quietly die. It will... it will corrupt her."

Basil says "And continually pushing her, annoying her, and pissing her off all the time won't do much good either. I'm just not a people person, you know? Especially not when the moon is getting big. She might say something now and I might just snap and sock her in the jaw. Olga, Emma, the others she seems a little more OK with. But not with me. It's not like I want to do it this way." He lifts a hand to run it through his hair, sighing. "But it's like trying to beat down a door with your damned forehead."

Yi hms quietly again, looking to the drawn blinds of the farmhouse window. "It is hard to say what will convince her. But, we will work together to help her anyway. In our own ways." She glances back to the cub. "And beside that, you have your own training to complete as well, no?"

Basil rises to his feet and walks down to the other edge of the porch, scuffing his boot across the boards. "Yeah, I do. I've got a whole lot of stuff to learn and I don't know how long I have to learn it. Fighting, spirits, history, and God knows what else."

Yi hms in thought again, before she makes her proposal. "Have you been taken to the caern yet?"

Basil turns and nods his head to Yi. "When you and White Bear had to take care of that hiker."

Yi looks over, and then ohs quickly, remembering that time. Then she smiles. "How did you like it?"

Basil smiles a little at her in return. "It was kind of nice, very pretty. The air was even cleaner then it was out here, and it somehow felt right in a way. Peaceful."

"When we go into the Umbra, or when you attend the next moot and feel when the Inner Sky is opened..." Yi tells him, her voice gaining a sort of admiration to some distant feeling, "your spirit understands deep inside why it is we fight to protect the caern. The caern is all that we have. A connection to Gaia's heart is what the caern is. All the Garou who fight for Gaia know this. Never again will we let it be violated or taken from us." She utters this quietly, but with conviction. "The Black Spiral Dancers will not catch us surprised again."

Basil says "I look forward to that day, whenever it may be. My reason for fighting right now is for my friends, but, a little more inspiration never hurts. If it really is that powerful of a feeling, maybe it'll show me a way inside to be a better leader, as well as a fighter." He walks back over to Yi to stand at her left side, peering down at the grass she was watching. "So they've attacked before... And they know where it is?"

The Mystery of the Porch Grass remains just that, as the ragabash has since taken to gazing at some texture of the wood on the porch's covering. "It was... a surprise attack. The caern was even more powerful then. They only discovered it..." she pauses, throat tightening, "because a cub lead them there. One of our cubs."

Basil looks over at Yi, his nose twitching, looking rather disgusted. "Which one did it? I hope the little fucker got run over by a tank. A lot of people must have died because of that, and this area would probably be a lot worse off if they had control. Black Spiral Dancer doesn't sound exactly helpful or wholesome."

"Because they are nothing of the kind," Yi growls out, expression tightening with her throat into a contorted calm. "They are the worst of all Garou. The Black Spiral Dancers... are the fallen." She takes in a deep breath, clearing off her growing hate like swiping an eraser over a blackboard, erasing the main text but nonetheless leaving behind remnants. "I was told about them in one of my teacher's stories. There was a tribe of Garou long ago, who decided to gather together and confront the Wyrm head on. They marched, deeper and deeper into the Black Spiral in a deep part of the Umbra. They thought they were going to battle. But they were not. They were walking into their own madness." She draws her lips tight for a moment, eyes narrowing slightly. "Where a tribe of Gaian Garou went in, out came the Garou who were twisted. Turned crazy by the Corrupter. Make no mistake, Basil. They are Garou. But they are not Garou who fight for Gaia. They are Garou who love the Wyrm."

Basil stoops over to lean on the porch railing, saying simply as Yi finishes. "Fuck that." He turns his head just enough to look at the woman beside him. "I don't exactly like all of you. But it seems you fight for the greater good. And the ones I do like, like you, I like a whole lot. So don't worry too much about me leading a merry band of black bastard wolves back to the Caern, 'cause I'd sooner slit my own throat with a goddamned spork. Anyone that would turn on their friends deserves to have his head kicked in."

Yi exhales loudly, keeping her calm, albeit now tenser state in check. "That I do not worry about, Basil. Not now, anyway. But to have a Garou who once loved Gaia, turn and betray her. That tells us all something about how powerful the Wyrm is, but also how great are our mistakes when we choose to ignore a Garou who is in trouble. Where some Garou see a weakling, a coward, or a traitor... the Wyrm sees a great warrior for its cause. And the Wyrm will whisper sweetly. It calls from our Rage. Some times, we might fall prey to that calling. Frenzy, we call it. But there is a kind of frenzy that is even worse than just a frenzy. You must take care not to enter such a state, if you can help it."

Basil smiles a little again despite the topic of conversation. "Thank you." Thinking on the rest of what she has to say, the cub shrugs his shoulders. "There will always be those that look at the light and turn away. Because they see evil as the easier path, the more rewarding path, or they truly enjoy it. Christine wouldn't go to the Wyrm, I don't think. She'd be repulsed by such an evil. Hope, though... I wonder what she'd do if she knew she had a chance to kill some of us. Everything tells me she would... " He glances off to the side, thinking on it. "What? What would I do when the anger took such a bitter hold on me?"

Yi looks off towards the forest at the mention of Hope, and then the self-posed question. "You do horrible things," she replies quietly and subdued. "You break the laws of the Litany, because you have no mind to remember them. You hurt friends. You hurt family. You... lose yourself." She swallows down, sighing out after another deep breath.

Basil sits down on the porch beside her, pulling his legs up to himself and resting his chin on his knees. "You ever... Do that? I'm not sure I want to think about what I'd do if I ever entered such a state... And I pray I never will. I don't want to hurt any of my friends... "

Yi doesn't answer for awhile. The soft calls of songbirds mixes with the breeze, as the ragabash's silence fills in the minutes. After a bit, she replies with but a word. "Yes."

Basil lets the silence hang in the air for a few moments, looking down at the grass. "And you aren't even that angry... Can I ask what you did?"

Yi slowly steps away from the porch railing she leans on, instead lowering herself to a sit beside the cub. She watches the gravel lane that travels away from the farmhouse. "I was turned against my family," she tells him, voice quiet as she draws up past memories that don't ever seem very far from her mind. "I turned against them, because I .. was drawn to a different master. He... I, obeyed all His words. When he told me to kill, I killed. When he told me to eat, I ate. Somewhere when I was searching for my sister, I lost myself." She then eyes the cub from the corner of her eye. "And I was rescued by those who still cared. Those who remembered. They brought me back, and helped me. When I came back here, I had more friends to help me. I found myself again, eventually. But... that Yi from before is gone. Now it is just the Yi of now. We always are changing."

Basil listens to Yi's story without a word, not looking to her until the woman reaches the end of her story. "It's not your fault, I'm sure... Not entirely. You are too good of a person, that I can feel inside of me." His lips pull into a small, sad smile, reflected in his eyes. "I think your old self is somewhere in there still. Showing through those scars inside and out when you smile. I trust in you Yi, and I know you'd never turn on me, and that you will show me how to be as great of a Garou, and a friend, as yourself."

Yi breathes out quietly, examining one of her wrists where a burned in, rope-like scar resides in the flesh. "I am grateful for the trust, Basil. These scars, are reminders. And proof of what I have done at the same time. They are not ones I wear very proudly, though. But when you enter battle against the Wyrm, and you prove your strength in the fight, those... those scars, you can be proud of. I have confidence in yout oo. You can be a great warrior, as long as you can remember why you fight."

Basil chuckles quietly, hoping to ease some of the tension of the situation out. "Nah. I don't need scars to be a proud Garou. As far as I'm concerned, the less scars I get, the better. Shows proof that I was clever, fast enough, and strong enough in battle to keep the enemy from sinking their damn dirty claws into my pretty little hide. But if you think I'll be a great warrior someday, then it must be true. Thank you, Yi-Rhya."

Yi finally does smile again, small though it may be. "Oh, you will have scars. An ahroun should wear them proudly. Even if you are not a Get of Fenris. But we are lucky that Gaia gave us gifts to heal quickly." She glances back to the cub. "You still need lots of practice, though. Instead of sitting here talking to a silly no-moon like me."

Basil chuckles a little more. "Point to them before battle, rant and rave about the Wyrm, where I got them. Kick my pack up into a fervor before we head off into battle? That day is a long ways off... " He can't help but smirk a little at Yi, shaking his head. "My training will come. In the mean time, I'm lucky I can spend my hours talkin' to such a charming girl as yourself. Ah, if only mom could see me now!" He kids, giving her a light poke in the side. "People aren't exactly lining up to teach me though. Mostly it's just physical stuff, me, alone."

Yi lightly swats at the poke only a second late, her waist crinkling at her 'dodge' attempt that isn't one. "Ha, Basil, you shouldn't think so far away. I remember Lyra was so excited about packs, she decided to try and start one when she was still a cub. A cub pack, but it helps to form the bonds necessary between Garou anyway." Deciding to stand and stretch, the ragabash hops down from the top of the three steps, and reaches up over her head. "And I am not a charming girl," she remarks to the cub with a bit of a smirk. "I am a grown woman, who must be at least 5 years your senior, I think."

Basil shakes his head, snickering at her. "I don't think any of the cubs about here could stand each other enough for a pack. Me, Hope, and Chris. Ha." The boy can't help but smirk at Yi, lifting a finger to point at her. "Hey, I've seen you in your underwear. I know pretty when I see it, so don't argue. I'll compliment you all I want, and you are helpless to stop me." Basil lifts his head back and raises his arms, cackling as best he can in the classic villain manner!

Yi tilts her head, eyeing the cub as he cackles, her own expression bemused. "So," she concludes, "You don't mind looking at others, but you do mind if someone looks at you, hm?" Suddenly, there's that ping of a mischievous gremlin's intentions in the ragabash's short chuckle.

Basil's cackles die though his smirk remains, clearly enjoying the playful conversation with the older Gnawer. "Well now... " He says, dropping his voice a few notches. "That depends on who's doing the lookin', and how much I've got on." He has to bite the inside of his lip to keep from bursting into laughter, holding his smirk.

Yi hmmmmms again, long and thoughtful, but in a light way. "That reminds me," she notes after, "I haven't dedicated your clothes to you, have I? But that is because you said you wanted to pick some out."

Basil stands up and runs his hands across himself. "These will do fine, I think. Clothes are clothes anyways, and this is about the best I've got. So long as it covers what I don't want no one to see, thats all that matters."

Yi looks Basil up and down, and then nods. "Ok, then. I will return in a moment," she replies. "Wait here." She climbs up the porch steps again, disappearing into the farmhouse. She reappears in a couple of minutes, with an unopened bottle of water in hand. "We should go to the barn for this," she adds, gesturing for the cub to head that way and she will follow him.

Basil waits for her patiently, then turns and walks towards the barn at her direction. "Sure thing. Lets head on out now, get it over with while we aren't doing anything too important other then taking jabs at each other. Will it take long?"

"Not very," Yi answers him, keeping pace with the waterbottle in hand. "Maybe 10, 15 minutes. It will depend how close your spirit will be with the clothes."

Big Red Barn(#3420RA)
The barn is built in the old style, a vast three level structure that is greater in height than a mere three stories, actually closer to five. Great wooden posts support the weight of the upper levels and roof, sunk into the hard-packed dirt floor of the first level like a sparse forest of regularly spaced, naked trees. The stalls and flagstones which once were here have been torn out to leave a rather open area where even crinos Garou may roam freely without fear of running into anything but the supports or the walls or the ladder at the back which allows access to the other two levels.
The first two levels are relatively open to each other, the second being only little wider than a catwalk going around all the walls but the front one, which has massive, twenty foot tall doors set into it. The third level is a true second floor except for a place cut out that allowed hay to be tossed down to the ground floor when the farm was actually worked. Now, it is a hayloft where Garou can sleep outside of the house.
(Non-Garou, please "+view curse")
Contents:
Basil
Obvious exits:
BarnYard  

Basil steps inside and glances around, listening for sounds of Christine. When he's fairly sure she isn't in there he turns to look at Yi, sticking his hands in his pockets. "So... How do we do this?"

Yi enters after, shutting the door behind her with a small look through the crack before it shuts. "This rite, as I was taught it, takes the spirits within the clothes and makes them aware of you." It sounds abstract when she says it. "Your spirit and the clothes will find a harmony with each other, so that when you change forms, they will change as well." She gestures towards the inner barn. "Stand, or sit, in the center of the barn."

Basil walks to the center of the barn as instructed, trying to wipe the humorous events from few minutes past from his mind. "Alright." He says, taking deep breathes and closing his eyes. "I'll stay standing. Is that all I have to do?"

"No, there is much for you to do," Yi replies, walking with him to the center. "There will be a better chance for you to discover the bond you have with your clothes, if you can think upon them. I will speak, but all you must do is listen, and meditate. Try to feel beyond the forms of the cloth. You want to find where they exist, beyond the Realm." She then pauses, finding a spot to start at. "Ready?"

Basil rolls his neck and his shoulders, letting out a small sigh. "Alright... I think I can do this. I think I've got it." He opens his eyes once more to glance at his teacher, then closes his eyes again. "Lets do this thing, Yi."

The Gnawer nods once more, setting down the water bottle at a spot on the floor to the cub's right. Then she moves to his front, turns and faces him. In a moment, she shifts to the Crinos form before him, her own clothes melting away to become the red and ivory fur of her warform. Lifting her muzzle, the ragabash then lets out a sharp, loud yip to the barn. ~Hear me! Spirits, elements! Three-Blades calls to the spirits of the cloth, and asks them to heed her plea!~

Basil remains quiet in the wake of the strange language, trying to focus himself on the clothes, his forms, the way they should meld with him and come out when he calls them. He tries to focus on the spirits of the clothing, even though he has no idea what they look like, or how they act.

Her voice is loud at once, echoing in the barn. As Basil might notice, the Mother's Tongue of the Gnawer ragabash has a certain chanted lilt to it now. But moreso, it contains a strange, exotic flavor tuned in with the way her growls and huffs sound, the way her movements that accompany the body posturing is fluid. ~Spirit of Wind and Thunder, I call you. Part of this cub and his clothes, become one with him.~ Saying this, she takes in a deep breath and blows a light breeze towards his face and the front of his shirt.

Basil feels the breeze across his face and his chest, wondering to himself how it could feel so strong in the middle of a closed barn. He shivers a little, his hands coming together infront of him as he continues to concentrate as the Ragabash instructed.

~Spirit of Fire and Lightning, I call you. Part of this cub and his clothes, become one with him.~ Yi shifts to the Glabro, and in her hand seems to appear a small lighter. This she flicks on, moving to the cub's left, waving the flame maybe a little too close for comfort, but not close enough to set him alight. She seems to carve invisible glyphs through the air with the flame, and then it flicks off, disappearing again. She then moves behind him, once more shifting slowly to the Crinos. ~Spirit of Earth and Metal, I call you. Part of this cub and his clothes, become one with him.~ Bending to scoop a pawful of dirt, she only casts it as a light dusting upon his back.

Basil's face goes still and doesn't turn despite the closeness of the flame, his breaths getting a little shorter, the Ahroun showing the signs of a touch of fear. But he stays firm in his stance, his face staying locked in a look of concentration. He isn't going to wimp out infront of Yi, thats for damn sure.

Glabro again, as Yi shifts to the cub's right. She picks up the bottle of water in her hand, holding it out. ~Spirit of Water and Ice, I call you. Part of this cub and his clothes, become one with him.~ Then, squeezing hard enough that the bottle crunches easily and breaks, a small splashing cascade of water wets his right sleeve down to the skin. She sets the bottle down, and moves in front of the cub once more. It seems like the ritual is over for a moment of silence, but Yi's face is still concentrated. But it isn't. The ragabash lifts her arms up, in plea to some unseen force. ~Spirit of Gaia, the Earth mother, and Luna the Moon sister, I call you. Part of this cub and his clothes, become one with him. I dedicate these clothes to Basil, known as Long-Wind, Ahroun of the Bone Gnawer tribe of the Garou, Warrior of Gaia's Children and Chosen Ones!~

Basil flinches somewhat when the cold water touches his skin, waiting for Yi's orders to trail off after the ending, excited, but intangible words. "Is... Is it over?" He ask quietly, cracking one eye open to look up at Yi's big furry body.

Yi shifts to her birthform after another passing minute of silence. The cub's query is not answered immediately, as she takes in a deep breath, closes her eyes, and breathes out slowly. Her eyes crack open again, and a brow lifts as she smiles at him. "Well, the best way to find out is to test." She takes a couple of steps back, and nods to the cub.

Basil takes a few steps back from the woman ignorant of dear departed water bottle. "Alright. Lets give it a try." He settles on the closest form, shifting up to Glabro form. When the clothes don't rip, shred, and leave him naked infront of the woman he grins wide with his elongated teeth. He shifts back down to Homid and laughs well and deep. "I guess the spirits of the clothes like me then, eh? Glad I don't have to worry about going Terminator anymore around the other wolves. Thanks Yi."

Yi watches carefully as the cub shifts, holding a baited breath as his clothes at first grow tight, and then stretch out in much more volume than the cloth normally would contain. She smiles, bringing a hand up and bowing lightly to him in a thankful, Chinese-style bow of appreciation. It isn't actually to him though, it seems, but to his... shirt? The ragabash lowers her hand again. "The ones to thank are the ones covering you. You are now one with the clothes on your back."

Basil grins at her and smoothes his hands out over his shirt, playing with the fabric beneath his fingers. "Sure thing. I'll thank them often and well, by keeping them clean and in good condition. I'm just glad I have something to change into nowadays while I wash my other clothes. Those sweats were getting kind of funky."

Yi laughs again, and then stretches her arms out once more. "Now that you are in harmony with the clothing, you will be able to sense where they are. Kind of. The Rite of Talisman Dedication, is a way of taking something that is not of your own body and spirit and bonding to it, and it to you. But, one must be careful not to bind too much, or to bind the wrong things, because this will put great weight on your spirit. You will feel it, when you learn how to perform the rite."

Basil walks around the barn a little bit to stretch out his legs. "More things to learn. I hope I have enough time to take it all into my little skull. So, you want to hang out in here for a bit, or head back to the farmhouse if you haven't got anything better to do?"

Yi checks her gaze up, and answers the cub, "It looks like the sun has set. We should go in to the farmhouse and maybe have some dinner together then, hm?"

[And off to the farm with new dedicated clothes, for a bite to eat.]

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