Uktena's Medicine

Logfile from GarouMU.
Currently the moon is in the waxing Crescent Moon phase (36% full).

Safehouse: Common Area
The foyer of this house is set off from the living room with its octagonal bump-out by a four foot high halfwall. Stairs lead up from the foyer, turning and disappearing to the right, and a wooden door with a keycard lock claims the wall opposite the living room. The rest of the main floor is taken up by a small bathroom across the hallway from a dining room which is separated from the kitchen at the back of the house by another half-wall. The decor is decidedly sparse - white walls, beige carpeting in the living and dining rooms and down the hall, unremarkable vinyl in the foyer and kitchen.
A used couch and a pair of recliners are grouped around a coffee table in the living room, with a foursome of wooden chairs claiming the bump out for quieter conversation. The dining room boasts a white laminate table with four aluminum and vinyl-upholstered chairs - too new to be 'vintage', too old to be trendy. The appliances and cupboards in the kitchen are new - or at least refurbished to look like it - and a door leads out to the backyard from there.
Up the stairs are a number of empty rooms where anyone affiliated with the Sept can crash and an office for private meetings. The Glass Walkers have their own area accessible via a locked door off the foyer. The main doors themselves lead back out to the front porch of the house.
Contents:
Touch Deer
Clemency
Obvious exits:
Porch  Guest Room  Office  Glass Walker Area  

Touch Deer is standing at the window, looking out, looking quite irritated. His clothes are not the ones he normally is found wearing, but are instead matching trousers and a jacket. Leather, newly tanned, no fringes, no decoration, and cut to look modernish in style.

A fairly heavy banging comes from the door. If Touch Deer looks through the window where he's standing he'll see Clemency is the cause of it. She doesn't look happy, but when does she ever?

And further down the street, also headed in similar directions, is Yi with a black one-strap bag strapped behind her. She pauses upon seeing Clemency banging at the Walker safehouse door, and approaches with relative caution. "Good afternoon," she calls up from the base of the porch steps. Then the Gnawer too, joins the Silver Fang.

The door swings open and Touch Deer appears, looking relieved to see Clemency. He ushers both women inside, quickly shutting the door behind them and turning, hand going through his hair in a nervous gesture. "I'm glad to see you Clemency...and I'm Touch Deer, Fostern of the Wendigo, full moon...I don't think we've met face to face yet." The introduction is delivered to Yi, a scarred hand outstretched to her casually.

Clemency gives Yi a good old suspicious look. "Afternoon," she mutters. "If you're selling girl scout cookies, I don't think you'll do much business here." Any further comment is forestalled by the door opening. "I heard you were gonna be here," Clemency begins to the Wendigo, before pausing as he delivers his introduction to Yi. "One of the gang, huh?" she acknowledges. "Me too. Clemency Haynes, full moon of the First Tribe... come inside and I'll spout my heritage at you. Or maybe I'll spare you."

"If I had Girl Scout cookies, I don't think I would be selling them," the Gnawer replies with a slight, small smile to the Fang. She nods once to TD at the door opening and steps in after Clemency, also checking behind her in near-instinctive manner. She cocks her head to one side and accepts the offer of the Wendigo's hand. Her handshake is quick but firm, slightly awkward in telling that she's not used to the gesture. "Song Yi-Ling," she introduces, "though just Yi is fine." And once further inside, she adds, "Runs-the-Gauntlet, fostern ragabash of the Bone Gnawers and daughter under Stag. A pleasure to meet you both."

Touch Deer goes straight to the Window, looking out it as he talks. Those who know TD even casually not he's not quite his calm, detatched, usual self. He seems jumpy, but nothing outrageous. He looks out and then back to both of you. "What brings you both? Congratulations, by the way, Runs-The-Gauntlet. I heard of your Challenge."

Clemency seems surprised for a moment at Yi's introduction, then recovers. "Someone else I wanted to meet," she exclaims. "Today's my lucky day. Yes, as I was saying... Fire-Burns-Forever, daughter of Gavin Keen-Ears, granddaughter of Peter Eight-Out-Of-Ten, descendant of the family Tchigorin, and all around pure-blood type, but let's not stand on ceremony... especially as I'm now the lowest ranking soldier in the barracks. I wanted to catch you, Deer-rhya, about something Stacey was telling me. And you, Yi, I also wanted to meet for a similar reason." She looks from one fostern to the other as though weighing the two of them in each pan of a big metaphorical pair of scales.

Touch Deer shows no reaction, but goes to look out the window again. "Go ahead." He's splitting his attention between the outside and inside, although there wouldn't really appear to be anything to pay attention /to/ outside, at the moment.

Yi rides on a rollercoaster of pride and prejudice as one moment she's still rather elated of her newly won rank, and the next her business of coming here comes back to mind. "I normally would not be willing to come this far into Walker territory," the ragabash notes, "But I was hoping to speak with Natalie. To thank her for coming to my challenge." Again her eyes flip back and forth between the Wendigo and the Fang. They settle on the Wendigo. "Something wrong?"

Clemency's eyes drift to Yi, and she pauses a moment to ensure she doesn't talk over the sept's newest fostern. Once Yi's spoken she answers both Touch Deer and Yi. "My conscience has been prodded by a pointy stick," she explains. "And Alicia holds the stick. She told me I should be in a pack again, and before I could draw breath, invited me into Resonance... And then when Stacey heard I was trying to meet up with the other members to see how I got on with them, she said there was a new Uktena pack forming and I ought to give that thought." She looks once more between the other two garou. "Can't remember the last time I was so much in demand."

Touch Deer nods slowly, moving to look at the window from a new angle, then apparently seeing or not seeing whatever he wanted to, he turns back and stands with his back agains the wall, arms crossed. "Correct. It will be a pack under myself, or perhaps Jamethon, depending on...things. You realize He, Uktena, is not honored well, in fact is mistrusted by the vast majority of our Nation?"

"Maybe Uktena is not honored well, but wisdom is always needed," Yi adds. "Especially amongst the Garou as a whole." The ragabash smiles faintly, nodding to Clemency. "Resonance is strong, still, but we ... have recently lost Tobin." Here she grows a touch subdued. "He was a good packmate, and a greater friend. I heard you performed the Gathering."

"One hears things," Clemency responds bluntly. "Whether one believes them or not depends on the hearer. I've never had much to do with Uktena-the-totem, but I do have enough sense to distinguish him from Uktena-the-tribe, or at least, that big guy who's its local elder... My last totem was Wyvern, and that's another spirit who's often misunderstood. You pack under Stag, yes?" she says, turning to Yi. "I'll say to you what I already said to Alicia, which is that I'm not fit to lick Tobin's boots, far less step into them. But I've got my own boots right here." She stamps up and down a couple of times as proof. "Yeah, I did his Gathering too. Someone had to."

[look Clemency]
 A thin Caucasian woman standing at some 5'8", Clemency Haynes somehow seems to look even taller than her true height. Perhaps it's the confident air with which she carries herself, perhaps it's her angular posture which suggests that one could insert a long straight stick into any of her orifices and still only have the effect of bending her out of shape. Whether standing, sitting or lying she somehow contrives to seem erect and rigid.
 Her hair is blonde - bleached, one might suspect, given the darker roots that show through - and braided into long neat cornrows, a little unusual for one of her ethnicity. Her face is small, with a sharp nose, and intelligent grey eyes. Her left ear has several small rings through; her right ear sports only one piercing, carrying an earring in the shape of a crescent moon with a smiling enigmatic face. A larger ring decorates the right side of her nose. Her usual dress is a heavy black denim jacket, a size or two too large for her, and with two button badges in her lapel reading 'Crazy Diamond' and 'Get Your Filthy Laws Off My Body'. Beneath it, a scoop-necked black blouse, decorated with a white lightning bolt across the front, and below those, worn black jeans and a pair of equally worn and scuffed DM boots. She often carries a duffel bag that's also seen a good deal of wear.
 She appears to be in her early to mid twenties.

Touch Deer nods his head a bit and seems to be looking down at the floor before his gaze snaps back to Clemency. "I see...and what makes you consider Uktena, yourself? You have a desire to travel the Shadow, and seek the 'lost?'

Yi nods again, though she inclines her head in a more grateful gesture to the Fang than a simple nod. "I thank you for that, too," she replies before adding, "and I'm sure you can make your own path with those boots of yours in the face of the Enemy, no matter which pack you take to, or even none at all."

Clemency lifts her shoulders and lets them drop. "Not even gotten that far," she concedes. "Like I said, I don't really know what makes Uktena and those who pack under him tick. That's why I was looking for you, before I have to head out to the farm again for... something I have to do." She frowns savagely for an instant before her face clears. "If you can spare time for a crash course, it'd be good, Deer-rhya. If it's about finding the lost, well, believe me, I've lost enough in my time. And Yi-rhya, well. After my last pack fell apart I thought I'd never pack again. But I'm starting to think I was wrong. I've yet to meet Eamon or Megan, but if they're like you..."

Touch Deer purses his lips and then says, "He's dark, he treads paths that are obscured or hidden in some way. He seeks to know more about all magic, all medicine...and about the Wyrm. He hoards mystical knowledge, and sends his packs to find it, on occasion."

Yi laughs outright, and then immediately tones down the humor to a softer chuckle. She shakes her head. "Eamon and Megan-rhya both are greater Garou than me," she rejects, "but I can understand the feeling of not packing again." Then she glances back to Touch Deer a moment. "Ouroboros ran under Uktena, did it not? I imagine if anyone were fit to lead another, it might be you, Touch Deer. Only with the Circle Snake pack's wisdom did we take back the caern."

Clemency looks at Touch Deer very keenly, her grey eyes fit to bore holes in the Wendigo. "Knowledge of the Wyrm is dangerous," she comments. "Whether to the Wyrm, or to the one who learns too much about it. Or to both. Still... Does Uktena place restrictions on those who pack under him? For that matter, Yi-rhya, does Stag?"

Touch Deer nods firmly. "Yes it is. It is very dangerous. Think it over. And, his children must always find lost mystical knowledge or objects, when he asks them. And he does often ask."

Yi nods as well. "Stag does ask us to help the ... 'Bright Folk', Megan called it. Faeries, and their kin." She thinks on this a moment before putting a hand to the back of her neck and smiling slightly. "But then, I have never seen one of these faeries in my time with Resonance, so I am not sure I would know how to recognize one, let alone help one."

"I will think it over," Clemency promises. "I like and respect you, and Stacey is going to go far, but the best packmates in the world are only part of the story of a pack. The totem is the other part." She rocks up and down on her heels once or twice, then walks nervously up and down the room. "Your turf is Kent Crossing, yes, Yi? Have you got your eyes on any particular territory for Uktena, Deer?"

Touch Deer chuckles and looks to Yi. "I have feasted with a faerie court that appeared briefly in the mountains east of the Caern..that was years ago, it was a very strange night." He shakes his head to Clemency. "I haven't given it more than passing thought, yet. The Cave where my old pack dwelled is fortified with traps, and makes a good home..."

Yi takes her time in answering, "Kent Crossing is our territory, yes, but Resonance is a pack for communications. City and woods, we go out and find what is happening. So, we are dedicated not just to the Kent Crossing woods, but to the sept as a whole."

Clemency keeps walking up and down. "Communications are good, but... I don't know. As Touch Deer will tell you, I don't do subtle. I fight. That's about /all/ I do. To the extent that if I don't fight regularly I turn into a complete bitch to be around. Do your packs, either of them, actually need a fighty ahroun like me?"

Touch Deer shakes his head slowly from side to side. "We need more spiritual power, and judges, or scouts, or talesingers. We have three Ahrouns, maybe four, already."

Yi shifts her gaze up as she thinks. "To be honest," the ragabash notes, "our pack has no ahrouns in it. We are, though, the higher ranked members in the Sept. If anything, every pack needs an ahroun, if only to be balance and strength. So said my teacher." Then, as an aside, she notes, "And if you want to talk about being a bitch... the females under Stag have filled in every moon except the full. Sometimes, I feel sorry for Eamon."

"Then you don't need me," Clemency says to Touch Deer, not without regret. "But I bet you'll have a rocking pack once you're done, and I wish I could have fitted. Now, Yi, it sounds like Resonance has more of an ahroun-shaped hole in it... though I'd be the junior member, sounds like. But Alicia sounded very keen on having me. Did she talk to you about it at all?"

Touch Deer moves to the stairs. "I need to take a rest, been having trouble sleeping...all good medicine, I'll see you both soon."

Yi nods to Touch Deer, though not without a bit of concern after the Wendigo's departure. She takes a moment to think again, before answering Clemency. "When I was first asked by Alicia to join Resonance, I thought: What would a Bone Gnawer be doing in an Honor pack? Especially, after some of the things I have done... but only in such a pack have I found a way to gain the confidence to break those kinds of chains. I think, Clemency, you may be able to find yourself a stronger purpose under Stag. He does, after all, show paths to those who are lost."

Clemency's eyebrows go up as Yi speaks so frankly, and remain there. "Well," she says after a pause, "I didn't expect to hear words like those from an honor pack member. Because I've got... my own issues and my own history hanging round my neck. To the extent that I still... well..." She seems to decide to match frankness with frankness. "I still half think that Megan's hoping to boot me out of the sept the first chance she gets, and that Alicia's acting as her agent in inviting me in. So I'll be where they can keep their eyes on me, and fit me up the first time some disaster strikes."

Yi arches her eyebrows at the Fang's words. At first, she doesn't say anything though her dark eyes keep on the ahroun. The mental gears click and whirr silently, before she asks, "How long have you been in this Sept?"

"Three months. Give or take." Clemency's pacing comes to a halt with those words, and she waits for Yi to speak again. Is it just coincidence that she's ended up near the door?

"And... has your Chiminage been accepted?" Yi continues, remaining where she is with her head still slightly inclined to a side.

"By Seeker. By Jervis... my tribal elder. But Megan? I don't know. I've left her messages, I've asked politely to meet her. Silence is all I get." Clemency's body language is visibly tensing up.

Yi then shrugs, herself relaxed despite the miniature interrogation. "If the Warder has accepted your presence on the Bawn and the caern, and Jervis... then I do not see how the Sept Alpha could think to throw out a perfectly good Garou." She straightens up, though still short of matching the ahroun at any eye-to-eye level. "And Megan /hates/ conspiracies."

Clemency's turn, it is, now, for cogs to go round and round in her head. "If that's so," she finally says, "I think you can color me interested. Alicia kind of blindsided her way under my barriers, and first I thought she was the greatest, and then I thought anyone who could be that close to me that quickly must have an ulterior motive." She gives a long tired sigh. "It's the sort of thinking you get into when you're a Silver Fang. Nothing is ever straightforward."

"And yet," Yi levels, "you were interested in finding out more about Uktena, and you gave chiminage to a sept that follows the One with Ten Thousand Faces, Chimera." She grins a bit.

Clemency 's eyebrows come down as quickly as they recently went up. "What are you implying by that?" she asks in dangerously even tones.

Yi puts up her hands, gesturing her no-offense-intended (really) way. "I only think you should notice that it is not being a Silver Fang that makes things not straightforward."

Clemency jams her hands into her pockets. "No. Being lonely can happen to anyone, any tribe," she comments bitterly. "So, are you /all/ fostern and up in Resonance?"

Yi smiles again, though this time it is with a touch more sadness at the talk of loneliness. "Indeed, being lonely can happen to anyone." She casts her gaze downwards, and then after a moment's silence looks back up. "Resonance is not all fostern, no. Dakota Heals-the-Rifts, a Child of Gaia and theurge, is still a cliath. She and I were cliaths, until I succeeded in my challenge to Jamethon a few days ago." The ragabash skips a beat before furrowing her brow. "Unless, that is not what you meant to ask?"

"I forgot Dakota," apologises Clemency. "Just the comment you made about the higher ranked sept members made me feel a bit... Outclassed?"

Yi then chuckles again, head bobbing in a quick nod. "I understand," she replies. "And you are a Silver Fang, so that must be more uncomfortable. But, I still think you might find some purpose in Resonance that you had not before, if you choose to ask for Stag's favor."

Clemency gives a dry, barking laugh. "You just hit it on the head," she confirms. "A Silver Fang's place is in the front. Which is something that this sept hasn't been reminded of enough recently, from what I can tell. Even if I'm not giving the orders, my place is in the front row of a battle, not at the back."

Yi quirks a half-sided grin, and nods graciously. "Then I know one more name to call on. A scout is little, without the army behind her." She takes a few steps towards the front door once more, but not without a pause of consideration for the surroundings. "Whichever pack you choose... I hope you get along well with them."

Clemency looks at the door. "I have to go, too," she remembers. "I promised Stacey I... I'd help her with something, out at the farm." That brief look of almost horrified despair flashes across her face once more before she banishes it with an effort of will. "It's been good to meet you, though. And from what I see, nobody could say you didn't deserve your fostern status."

Yi's features once more split into a bigger, proud smile. "Thank you," she says. "I hope I continue to show that." As she takes another step towards the door, the ragabash adds as an afterthought, "Where do you stay? At the Falcon's Rest?"

"Not any more," says Clemency bitterly. "We got evicted after Jana and Tobin passed. The First Tribe of this city scarcely has two cents to rub together, now. We managed to buy an old semi-derelict place, we're doing it up now. Or trying to."

Yi puts fingertip to the side of her cheek. "I see. Well, maybe I know someone who might know someone," she thinks aloud. "I will ask them." Then she gestures to the door. "After you?"

"After /you/," Clemency invites, not ungraciously. "You're both the scout, and the senior rank."

Yi chuckles softly once more before nodding and opening up the door. "Being up here has such different weather," the ragabash murmurs as she passes by the Fang and heads out. She does, though, hold the door open for the ahroun.

Back | Next | 2005 Logs | Main