Currently the moon is in the waxing Full Moon phase (96% full).
Currently in Saint Claire, it is clear outside. The temperature is 62 degrees Fahrenheit (16 degrees Celsius). The wind is currently coming in from the northeast at 3 mph. The barometric pressure reading is 30.07 and rising, and the relative humidity is 64 percent. The dewpoint is 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius.)
It is currently 20:27 Pacific Time on Mon Oct 1 2001.
Forgotten Church Basement(#1279RJLM)
This basement is only partly below ground level, and there are windows evenly spaced on the walls, right below the ceiling level. The main part of it is a large open area with a small kitchen in one corner and a large, ratty carpet in the center, covering the cement floor. There is a rather large window in the kitchen; it looks as though it might actually open onto the street. On the wall opposite the kitchen is a large bin, and there are folding tables along the wall perpendicular to it. On the other wall there are a few folding chairs, many fewer than one would expect from the number of tables.
A hallway next to the kitchen leads off to two offices and what once might have been a classroom.
Kaz, sitting down by Renee, Coke in hand, shakes her head. "Well. No. But you seen crinos, right? The war form? Think about stuff we'd need to fight, to justify havin' that kinda frothmeister of a body. We'll show you actual Wyrm shit eventually, when you got more control over yourself, but the way I like to put it is, th' Wyrm /inspires/ alla the corrupt politicians. Take all the tentacly stuff from your nightmares, an' that's a Wyrm thing, pretty much. They got more subtle stuff, too, but..."
Renee scowls, mind chewing that over. "Alright. Whats the next rule?"
Kaz smiles faintly at that scowl. "It's a lot to take on faith, right now, I know. It gets less that way eventually. Anyways, next one: 'Respect the Territory of Another.' Basically, we're pack animals, like I said before. So we got pack territories. In the woods, the lupes, they pee on trees to make it obvious whose territory is whose. In the city, we just tag stuff and shit. An' basically, don' be impolite in someone else's territory. Don' kill shit without tellin' 'em, don' make no permanent change, don't move in on it, basically. like gangs, y'know?"
"Hellooo?" Dizzy calls out, entering the church. She walks over to the basement door and tries to open it. She's surprised that it's locked and pauses a second before knocking, wondering why it 's locked. Maybe the church isn't like the farmhouse where people just walk in whenever.
Renee nods. "I can live with that. You'll have to teach me how you mark things." The sleeping bag worth of grub that Kaz brought down get a considering look, before the cob helps herself to some of the sandwhich meat and bead. "S'not too bad here," she admits. "Lots too eat." The knock catches Renee's attention, as she looks toward the stairs.
Kaz says, "Hold that thought," and goes to answer the door. "Oh, hey, Diz. We got ourselves a newbie. C'mon in, I brought junk food." She clatters back down the stairs, and adds, "This here's Renee. An' yeah, I kinda try'n make sure no one's starvin' their ass off. We got too many on the edge as it is."
[Renee]
A young girl, with shoulder length dark brown hair and eyes of a similar colour. Standing, Renee is just over five feet tall and you' probably guess her age to be somewhere between eleven and twelve. What with her flat chest, scrawny legs, and arms. In truth, she is well past her fourteenth birthday. The young girl's hair has been tied back in a french braid, tidying it up and keeping it out of the way. This does not hide the fact that Renee has not washed her hair in some time, as it is visibly greasy. She is wearing a plain red t-shirt that is marred by a mustard stain near her right shoulder and her legs are covered by a pair of simple blue jeans. One denim knee is intact, while the second one seems to have suffered the brunt of an earlier fall and is badly ripped.
Never very far away, is Renee's backpack. Black, with blue designs and bulging in unusual places. Several pencil crayons are visible, through the clear plastic that serves as the backpack's rear pocket.
Renee stuffs one end of the quickly made sandwitch in her mouth, giving Dizzy a short wave with her free hand.
Dizzy smiles, "Hey, Kaz-Rh...Kaz." She gives a little wave and walks in. "Maybe I should have brought food then?" She shakes her head, "Stupid me, I should have figured that out, considering how many Gnawers show up at the housee with food." She nods at the newbie and introduces herself. "Hi, I'm Dizzy Spins in Circles an' Protects Others from Themselves. Ragabash Glass Walker cub."
Kaz shrugs at Dizzy. "It's a thing we do. Ain't a big deal." Though the smile she has at the cub's figuring it out might bely that. She's watching Renee for signs of comprehension or, more likely, incomprehension, though, so Dizzy might not notice. "Means, basically, she's another tribe. We're Bone Gnawers, see. They're Walkers. Did Bern explain what auspices are?"
Renee swallows the food in her mouth and considers taking another bite, before setting the sandwitch aside. "Oh. Bernie said that there were other Tribes, but didn't tell me about them. She said that there were five Auspices, depending on the moon you were born under. She explained galliard, cause thats what I am. And Ragabash, cause thats what she was." Blinking, the cub seems to remember something and introduces herself. "I'm Renee. Galliard and Bone Gnawer cub."
"Nice to meet you, Renee." The Glass Walker cub turns to Kaz to ask, "Is it just you guys around?"
Kaz gives Renee a thumb's up at the introduction. "So you want I should explain the other auspices, or you want more Litany?" She nods at Dizzy. "Just now, yeah..."
Renee shrugs, picking up her sandwitch again. The thumbs up get a smile in return. "You're the teacher."
Dizzy ahs, nodding. "Well, I was just looking to see if Yi was in. I'll just walk over to see if she's home, then. Have fun, Renee and I'll see you later, Kaz."
"Aw? Well, I mean, Yi's cool, but it ain't like I'm kickin' you out or nothin', if you wanna stick around and kibbitz..." She adds, after a moment, "Oh, an' just 'coz people'll expect y't'know... Someone born on a full moon, they're an ahroun. They're the warleaders, the guys with the /intense/ focus on fightin'. Then there's the gibbous folk, like you an' me. Storytellers, information passers, artists an' musicians. Memory of th' Garou. Then there's the half moons, the philodoxes. They're the balancers, the judges of the Garou. Make sure the traditions are /kept/, y'know? An' then there's the theurges, the crescent moons. They're more connected to the spirit world, kinda hard to understand sometimes, but they're a vital link tween us'n spirits. An' then there's folks like Diz an' Bern, questioners of the ways, tricksters, scouts. Makin' sure we don' get complacent." She adds, to Dizzy, "Siddown, getcherself a drink."
Renee mumbles to herself, repeating the various auspices and attempting to memorize them. That done, she takes another bite out of her sandwitch.
"Thanks, I will," Dizzy says, removing her sunglasses and placing them in her jacket as she takes a seat. "People vary widly within their auspices as well," she notes, "It took me a while to realize that. I had a little trouble seeing myself as a trickster."
Kaz nods. "Yeah. Me, I don' do stories so good. I'm more the news passer type, an' the musician. Hence, th' buskin'. It all varies. An' you sure as shit don' gotta be one thing or th' other. Y'can do it all if you want, or kinda focus on one part of it."
Renee stuff the last of the sandwitch into her mouth. "Always liked drawing," she says with her mouth full, words garbled. Standing, she visits the fridge and gets herself a drink.
Kaz says, with a faint grin, "Noticed, first time I met you. Anyway, want me t'hit you with th' next one?"
Renee opens a pop can and returns to her seat, sitting crosslegged this time. "Sure."
Dizzy had decided that she wasn't really that thirsty, but seeing Renee opening the soda, she gets up from the couch and retreives a can for herself.
Kaz nods. "'Kay. To get why this one's important, you gotta understand that we ain't no democracy. We're like a wolf pack, an' who's boss gets determined by ritual challenge. Anyway. So these things ain't to the death, generally, they're just to surrender, so, hence, 'Accept an Honorable Surrender.'
Renee nods. "Someone cries uncle, ya leave them alone."
Dizzy pops open her can and nods. Apparently the new cub is getting the litany lesson.
Kaz says, "Zactly. Now, next one -- you don't gotta grovel or nothin'. You just gotta show whoever's y'r boss that you know they're th' boss. Th' wordin' of th' thing just sucks. 'Submission to Those of Higher Station.' Now, you, you're a cub, so pretty much everyone you meet 'cept other cubs is gonna be y'boss, f'now. That'll change eventually, once you go on your Rite of Passage."
Renee frowns, not taking to this rule all that well. "Bottom line, I gotta do what they tell me."
"Yeah, that one stinks when people use it as an excuse to push you around," The Glass Walker notes before taking a drink of her soda.
Kaz says, evidently recognizing this reaction well, "Yeah, pretty much. People don' tell you t'do fucked up things, though, an' if they do, you tell 'em to come t'/me/ about it. 'Coz there's another one've th' tenets that says, 'Respect for Those Below Ye in Station -- All Are of Gaia.' In other words, don't fuck with people at random. An'," she adds, nodding at Dizzy, "Sometimes, people're morons."
Renee nods, braid-tip finding its way into the corner of her mouth. "Like Nevada."
Kaz nods. "Yeah. Like him. But he may've had a good reason, so I'm gonna poke him about it, see. I mean. We're not human, after all. We sometimes got different standards of what's fucked up or not."
Dizzy turns the can around in her hands, looking at it. "Yeah, you can trust your tribe's elders. Like, I mean, I know I can trust mine, and I don't think I've met a Gnawer I didn't like."
Renee frowns, then shrugs. "Getting knocked over the head and scared silly, yea."
Kaz says, "Like I said. He mighta been wantin' to try an' get you t'shift. I dunno. But I'm gonna poke him." She shoots a smile at Dizzy, then goes on, "Next one's kinda easy. Y'know wolves an' how they deal with meat an' stuff? 'The First Share of the Kill for the Greatest in Station.' Which basically just means, give the boss first crack. But most've the time," says Kaz, who has conspicously not eaten anything yet, "Th' bosses give shit t'people anyways. It's just, they got the experience an' shit, so you don' take their rightful shit first, is all."
Dizzy bites on her lower lip, nodding at the Gnawer cub, "I'll tell you right now, one of the hardest parts that I've had to go through is dealing with how garou do things. Personally, my training has involved such fun things as having one of my elders shoot me in order to show how tough we are."
Renee winces, then looks over at Kaz. "You're not going to do that are you?"
Kaz blinks, once or twice, at Dizzy. "See," she tells Renee, "The Gnawers, /I/ cut /myself/, to prove /that/..." She trails off. "But y'know, combat trainin' in general ain't no fun. You gotta be prepared f'that fact right now, y'know?"
Renee nods, expression becoming even more glum.
Dizzy nods in agreement, taking another drink. "That's the worst of it, though, is the tendancies toward violence." She shrugs, "It could just be that way for me because my elder is a Ahroun and I've gotten into a couple arguments with garou of higher rank than I."
Kaz nods. "Ahrouns're kinda... more aggressive. But, well, we all of us got instincts. They're hard t'repress."
Dizzy gets up from the couch, "Well, I should really get going, since I'm walking and all. It was nice to meet you, Renee, and good luck on your training." She gives the Gnawer cub a warm smile as she replaces her glasses on her face. "See you later Kaz."
Kaz gives Dizzy a mock salute. "Yep. Later days."