Rejecting Cole's Challenge

4/21/2006

03:13 PM
Logfile from GarouMUSH.

Currently the moon is in the waning Half Moon phase (43% full).
It is currently 15:03 Pacific Time on Fri Apr 21 2006.
Currently in Saint Claire, it is mostly sunny today. The temperature is 55 degrees Fahrenheit (12 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the west at 15 mph, with gusts up to 24 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.15 and rising, and the relative humidity is 34 percent. The dewpoint is 27 degrees Fahrenheit (-2 degrees Celsius.)

Bawn: Southern Forest(#3017RAJ)
Evergreen trees spread their overhead branches wide across the forest floor. Each tree limb interlinks with its neighbor, forming a thick overhead canopy of pine needles that leaves the forest floor dim even at noon. An apparent tenseness seems to permeate the air here, and there is a somewhat less than subtle feeling that perhaps something is watching. The behavior of the wildlife in the area betrays a certain wariness that suggests the presence of predators nearby.
The southern edge of the bawn is marked here by the railroad tracks which run from St. Claire and Kent's Crossing to the west, towards the mountains to the east.
Contents:
Howls-For-Glory
Obvious exits:
Ash Grove  Railroad  South  Into the Caern  Sept Compound  Half Moon Pool  Western Bawn  Central Bawn  Eastern Bawn  

Howls-For-Glory is moving through the underbrush of this part of the woods, peering carefully about him and scenting the air periodically. He's in search of the Bone Gnawer Gauntlet Runner, and has been for a short while now.

Funny place to be looking for a Gnawer, all this pristine wood around. Yet Yi is spotted, or scented whichever comes first, traveling through the forest from the direction of the Sept Compound. For a homid, her footfalls are somehow naturally quiet; either that or they've been quite honed through years of practice to be that way.

Having frustrated himself searching elsewhere, the Galliard is still somewhat surprised when he catches the scent of his quarry. He silently rises into Homid when he approaches the near-silent Bone Gnawer, making sure to approach from the front. "Gauntlet-Runner-rhya, I've been looking for you." He offers her a smile to soften the bluntness of his news.

Yi vocalizes her surprise, being addressed out of the blue, but more from seeing Cole pop up out of the bushes. Clearing her throat gently, though, she nods at him with a smaller echo of a smile. "What can I do for you, Cole?"

Cole has the decency to look abashed when Yi lets out a sound of surprise. "Sorry about that. Guess I forgot that you wouldn't smell me coming for a moment. I'm getting too used to having to find people in Lupus. Anyhow. I'll be brief for the moment. I'd like to bring challenge against you for the rank of Fostern. After my last challenge..." He trails off, giving a wry smile to the Ragabash. "Let's just say I realize that I need to prove myself."

Yi brushes off some bits of invisible dirt from her person, though she looks to be thinking it over. "You have.. spoken to Jacinta about this?" she asks, eyes flicking back up to the Fianna's face.

Cole shakes his head swiftly. "One of the reasons I'm being brief, actually. I wished to know whether you would accept before I bothered Jacinta-rhya with this. She has little enough patience for me as it stands, I suspect." He shrugs the thought away.

"The Master of the Challenges watches all challenges made formal, to make sure they are fair," Yi iterates, taking in a deep breath. "You know then, that Reggie's challenge to me is done too? That he has not succeeded in meeting my terms?"

Cole inclines his head. "I'd heard enough to assume that, yes." He looks back up. "I want to make the challenge formally in front of the Moot. But I figured that I owed you the courtesy of advance warning." Another faint smile.

Yi nods her head again, not really smiling, given the 'formality' of the situation. "Why do you think you can challenge me for the rank of Fostern?" she asks. "Your last challenge was a failure."

Cole's smile withers away on the vine, as it were. "It was. I believe I can challenge you for Fostern because I am as ready to strive for the next rank as I was before, Yi-rhya. If I recall correctly, you believed I was not ready for the rank because I am too free with information, or had the potential to be? Well, I have taken that lesson to heart, indeed."

"How?" The ragabash's question is simple. And yet, Yi doesn't look like she's /just/ asking.

Cole raises a brow. "The only way I know how. By following advice given. It's difficult to point out how I have kept delicate information secret without giving away the secret, isn't it? I would ask you trust on that point, and let me prove myself through a challenge."

Yi lifts her head a touch, the side of her lip pulling back. "Always the secrets. But this is not a time for secrets. This is a time to lay your works out, card by card, and play your hand with all the risk, to gain greatly or lose heavily." The ragabash shakes her head after, gazing to the galliard with a calm, albeit softly sympathetic look. "I am afraid, I will not yet accept your Challenge."

Cole's shoulders tighten visibly beneath his vest, and his eyes squint slightly. These are the only clues to his mood, aside from his voice. There's a hint of frost in his words when he speaks. "May I ask you why, Yi-rhya?"

Yi exhales slowly, such that if she were smoking, the plume would curl upon itself. "Because you have not yet gotten the right hand," she answers enigmatically at first. Gaze turning to the branches above, she thinks. "You know what it is to be a leader? It is to think not of yourself, but of those beneath you." Her eyes travel back to the galliard then. "Your tribemates. They need you. Your packmates - those of the past, and those who would be in the future - they need you. Your cubs. They need you too. I ask you. What have you done, right now, that has helped them?"

Cole sucks in a deep breath. "As you have seen, I have taught and nurtured Sophie and Morgan up to the point where they stand as Cliaths amongst our people. Kieran even now shows promise and the potential to Rite soon, as well. Christopher, I have challenged our very Sept Alpha to bring him to a tribe he felt the most connection with. Challenged her and won through a test of my wits, and not simply brawn. I have confronted any problems I find within my tribe with what I believe to be the best course of action. I love them, one and all as family, Yi-rhya. And they show devotion no one has a right to expect. I'm filled with pride whenever I think of them. As for my former packmates, two are no longer even Sept members. Only Tu remains, and I'm afraid our roads have diverged. He cannot bring himself to remain free of the Scab's embrace, and neither can I sever myself from this, my home. Rather than shame Prettytail with our divisiveness, we have released her from her pact with us, to be free to do her own will." He takes a deep breath to steady his voice, which has grown more intense over his speech. "I have also taken responsibility as the caretaker of the farmhouse and its environs." He looks Yi in the eye, briefly enough to avoid it being a challenge of dominance. "Is there some act of cowardice, some dishonor or foolish action that I have taken that makes you believe I am unfit to hold the rank of Fostern? Did I perhaps show too much fear during the recent Rite, in stepping aside from that final, mortal combat?"

Yi shakes her head again. "No, Cole. You are a brave Garou, and your bond to your family and this sept is strong I am sure. But you are not doing them or yourself any good by challenging me. What if my challenge were to take you away, for a long time? What if you were to die on this challenge? What will become of your cubs and family then? You say you have responsibilities to the farmhouse as Caretaker, and you have new cliaths and cubs to care for. What good will you do them by showing them your back when you wish to run forward, and they are left behind?" Running a hand through her hair, Yi sighs out softly. "You see... when I first thought to challenge Jamethon, he refused too. He asked me what I thought I would be, as a Fostern. I was not sure how to answer then, but inside I knew I felt I would be a burden. Someone who would slow down all the others around me. But with you, I fear you run too quickly. The others, they are left behind. You have information now. Knowledge, wisdom. You need to share that with those around you."

Cole's chest constricts, and a mix of an exasperated sigh and a growl escapes him. He clamps down on the sound quickly enough, though the color darkening and suffusing his features is clear enough to see. "Yi-rhya, if I may speak freely?" He pauses for a moment and continues on. There's even more vehemence in his words now. "Am I then to be unable to challenge until all the cubs seek Fostern, as well? If your challenge placed undue stress on my responsibilities, I would decline, as Natalie of the Glass Walkers did when challenging our brother Fenrir. There is no dishonor in turning down a challenge that costs others around you. Let me be the judge of what my family deserves and how I may perform without hurting them. It is my right, I hope, as Elder to do so." He holds up a hand. "Yi-rhya. Forgive me for questioning, but just when is appropriate to challenge? I will always have things to teach my tribe, and I will never stop learning. I have a right to ambition, as well, and I would say it has outstripped my accomplishments. If I might air a bit of bitterness? Circle-Keeper-rhya we have both known as White-Bear. That he no longer answers to that name only means he cut himself off from his victories and shames of that life. And yet he holds a lofty title, having no real past to speak of. It would seem I am far from overly amibitious, if his own ambitions are acceptable. I have been her two years and seen the sorrows and joys that come with two turnings of the world. I would merely seek the opportunity to prove what I already have and be acknowledged for it. As our people have done for all time."

"I, I, I! Always, it is about you!" Yi's formerly quiet tone ends abruptly, bursting out from her before she has her chance to moderate them. "You ask me when is the right time to challenge, and I have told you. /Now/ is not the right time. You have been here two years, true, and what have you done? What battles have you lead? What stories have you told? If you wish to make this about your Renown, then impress me, galliard!" Her voice sharpens like an edge. "What have you done about the Scrags that killed the alpha of Birdseye? What have you said to rally the Garou of this sept in their fight against the Wyrm? Even now, the monster of the Great Hunt lives. Even now, the tire yard burns with tainted fire. For Gaia's sake, Cole, a Nexus Crawler lives and breeds in the Scab outside our caern!" She points towards the city, however distant it would be from the bawn. "What did you say and do, or did not say and did not do, that the pack you held could not hold together? What have you done to urge our warriors up on their feet and sharpen their claws against the Enemy that surrounds us? We are the last caern in this area, and yet none will aid us because we look like a joke to other septs' eyes. We drive away our kin to hiding, and warrriors leave us because they are disgusted by our ways. What Have You Done, galliard, that proves you are worthy of Fostern?"

Cole's eyes bug, and he drops his gaze. A sharp ear might pick out the grinding of teeth. "I will accept anything you say of me, Yi-rhya, but what you said of my pack." He looks back up, and there's a curling of his lips. "Jana Endures-Pain is dead. She would not be, had I covered the thirty feet in a breath and tossed myself into the scythe blade of her killer faster than that! I have nightmares that yet wake me up screaming of that night! And of Augustus, my pack-brother I cannot speak! For he left us with no warning of anything being wrong, left to that GODDAMNED Western Eye! The same one that claims almost every Gaian who lives here overlong!" The Galliard is clearly riled. "Had I the ability to read minds and see the silent worm of dissastisfaction in his mind, then maybe I could have stopped him. But such knowledge is hidden from those of us who rise no higher than Cliath in rank! And Tu Spies-the-Wyrm? We part as friends and brothers who have different packs. To do less is to foolishly cling to what has been. Something I expect you, as a new moon, would understand! And when I have tried to seek out a pack more in tune with my inclinations, it feel apart, claimed by those warriors leaving in disgust because of a judgement I had no part in! And you would know that better than any of this, having felt the same sting!" He sucks in several deep breaths. "I guess it's impossible to convince you that I, or my tribe, are deserving of a Fostern amongst them to lead. But I will say this: For all the foes that surround us, and threaten us that have not been destroyed, I am but one Garou, and a Cliath at that. Surely those who have earned more than I have a responsibility equal to my own. I won't have guilt laid on my shoulders that isn't mine to bear. I bear part of this, but not the whole. That guilt stains the entire Sept." The Galliard is left staring at the ground.

Yi's own jaw tightens underneath the Fianna's retort. "You are a galliard, Cole. Your auspice amongst all ours should be able to know, or at least find out and read, when those around them are brought low in their hearts. It does not take a Fostern to see that." Her eyes remain on him, even as he looks down. "And you know the pain of the Mother, who cries night after night that we do nothing," she expresses, her voice soft but tight. "You are one Garou, and a cliath, but that does not make you worthless. You have a voice that can lift our spirits up when we feel like we are falling, and crush those of our enemies when they think they have won. You /are/ the leader of the Fianna here. And you are one of the best galliards I have had the privilege to know. But you need to stand up and show everyone else that as well. Even those you do not like or those who do not like you. When those of other tribes rivalling yours can look upon you, the Fianna elder, and see the Fostern that should be... that is when it is right to Challenge."

"Yeah." For almost a minute, that's all the Galliard says. "Good luck with that one." There's a note of humor in the voice. It's still not exactly light-hearted, but it's there. "Considering I'm fairly certain the Elder of the Uktena sees me largely as Weaver bait and a mooncalf at that." He shakes his head and shrugs. "I guess that's it, then. With your permission, Gauntlet-Runner-rhya, I'll go and prepare for the Moot."

"And what do you see him as?" Yi asks, holding onto what dismissal she might have.

Cole looks up. "As a Garou, he's brave, strong and violent. An Ahroun I'd want in any fight." An eyebrow raises slowly. "I won't dishonor myself by speaking of thing I do not know. But I do know his interactions with me have nearly always come to blows. I find him infuriatingly condescending and willing to interpret any word against him as challenge. Sadly, pen-pals we will never be." There's a bit of wry distaste in his voice.

Yi sighs once again. "I do not expect miracles to be solved by two Garou alone, especially with tribes whose ancestors did much wrong to one another. But what I mean to say is, you are not far from your goal, Cole. This is not a time to stop everything you are doing that is good. You only need to use the strength you know you have and show it proudly by doing great deeds with it. Any cliath can teach cubs. Any cliath can learn, and tell stories. Any cliath can watch after a house. So, a Fostern... cannot be only just that. I hope you will understand what I mean."

Cole shakes his head. "I understand what you mean, Yi-rhya, and I don't disagree entirely. I just find it infuriating that a former renunciate who was kicked out of his tribe by its very totem Incarna and then severed himself from his past rose to Fostern simply by being Guardian and killing many, many things. It seems the Ahroun's path is painful, and painfully simple." A huff of breath. "But that is my problem to deal with, not yours or his."

"Perhaps that is so. You do not see the world the way he does," Yi says with slow nod. "And neither do I. But, I think if you look further into what he has done... you will see what has made him one to look to as well. As we are all part of this sept, so should we look to each other and find our weaknesses and our strengths, in one another." A timbre in her voice trembles slightly, like she were trying to convince herself of her own words. And then with a small recomposing shake of her head, she clears her throat and gestures lightly. "We should get ready for the moot."

Cole shifts from foot to foot for a moment. "Yes, we should. I believe I'll take a quick run before we gather, though. See you shortly, Yi-rhya."

Yi dips her head, acknowledging the Fianna's departure and bidding him a silent farewell for now.

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