GarouMUSH - Tuesday, February 17, 2004, 12:01 PM
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Ash Grove(#4024RJ)
Within this dark forest dominated by the canopy of the tenacious, light-hungry pines is a place
 where a stand of ash has established itself and fought off all competition. The ashes allow the 
rays of sun and moon alike to lance down through limbs which bear nothing more than 
clusters of rust-coloured keys, such that undergrowth abounds and the forest floor is even 
clad with a bright green sward of grass. Bright white bits of bone peep through the green, 
testament to a history of food offerings in this place.
These habitual offerings have accomplished their purpose and, during daytime, a great number
 of carrion birds roost in the branches of the trees, predominately the large black bodies of 
crows and ravens. The grove is deserted at night, the birds having left for other sanctuary.
Contents:
Megan
Obvious exits:
Forest  

Craig presses through the woods, having finally narrowed down the whereabouts of the Sept 
Alpha. His backpack is strapped over his shoulders, and occasionally catches on a branch 
here or there. The boy makes no attempt to hide his progress through the woods, and so 
twigs snap and grass swishes with his footsteps. The grove of ash trees is about where he 
was told it would be, and he slows his pace as he gets nearer. "Megan-rhya? Are you there?"
 he calls, after clearing his throat.

Megan may not be immediately visible, if the Bone Gnawer follows the standard axiom of 
'people never look up', as she is comfortably perched up in the elbow of a tree, about 7-8 
feet off the ground. However, the leaflessness of the ash trees may help in revealing her 
presence, especially with the help of one leg dangling idly over the edge.  Megan's eyes 
narrow, although if he doesn't spot her, he wouldn't notice tha. But her call out, "Over here," 
would probably get his attention. The number of carrion birds present are few, but they do 
pay passing wary attention to Craig as he approaches.

Craig's brow furrows, and he grabs the straps of the backpack, giving them a slight tug as he 
takes the last few steps into the grove. The teenager looks left, then right, frowning a bit 
before 'up' occurs to him. He cranes his neck and finally spots the woman in the trees. Once 
she's been seen, the Gnawers eyes drop, as do his hands. The latter slip into his pockets, 
and his shoulders slouch. "Good morning, ma'am," he says, taking a step back. "Sorry to 
disturb you." No street lingo happening today, apparently.

The shrug, when Megan gives it, is lopsided, only her right shoulder rising and falling in 
response to his apologetic words. "You're not disturbing me, Craig," she says, not precisely 
friendly, but also not sounding like she's only being polite. She pauses, then moves to drop to
the ground with a rustiness of a talent long disused, stumbling a bit until she catches her 
balance. She gives the branch a glare before closing the distance with the Bone Gnawer with 
casual steps. "What's up?"

Craig waits until Megan is once more grounded before shrugging his backpack off of his 
shoulders and opening it. The smell of a bakery, specifically the part that makes the cookies, 
wafts free as the Fianna comes near. He doesn't look up as he digs through his stuff, eyes 
rising only when he finds what he was looking for. A plastic grocery bag, covering and 
protecting a paper bag is pulled free and offered to the half-moon. "S'not..." he starts, then 
pauses. "It's, uh, I mean...Um...I haven't seen you, uh, met with you outside of the trial. And 
I want to ask you about something, but I always heard it was bad manners to not give 
someone somethin', uh, something, I mean, an elder, when you first meet them. I mean, the 
Sept Alpha. And all. So...they're cookies, fresh, like from the bakery down by the Pines. I 
didn't know what kind you liked, so I just got you a whole lot of different ones." Aware that 
he's rambling, he manages to stop, then gives a little bow.

Amusement quirks at the corner of the philodox's mouth, as she accepts the cookies. 
Apparently, she's had enough dealings with Bone Gnawers that she understands the 
protocols. She opens the paper bakery bag to dig out a chocolate chunk cookie, then holds 
out the bag towards Craig in offering, while she takes a bite of her own. "Yeah, I'm sorry I 
haven't come to see you, since Renee left. And I don't even have the excuse of being too 
busy, so, bad me. How're things going?"
           
The boy licks his lips and reaches into the bag, taking whatever his fingers hit first. "It's 
alright," he says as his lucky dip reveals an oatmeal raisin cookie. "Thanks." He takes a bite, 
mulling over the Alpha's question as he tries to enjoy the (yuck) healthy treat. "Uh, things're 
good. Sounds like, uh, Olga's pack formed up alright, and now I just have to go find Julie 
outside of a moot to try to talk her into one. Lyra's being sane this week, which is pretty cool. 
And..." Though food takes the edge off of Craig's nervousness, he cuts himself off there, 
dropping his eyes again and taking another bite of the cookie. "So...um...yeah. How are you 
and yours doing?"

Megan raises an eyebrow at the phrase 'Lyra's being sane this week', but nods absently in 
acknowledgement to the rest. "Olga mentioned something about joining a pack with Helen
 and Layne. Good to hear it worked out. And that you've joined Rough and Tumble, no?" 
she ends on a lilt to make it a question. "I'm doing just fine. Things have seemed 
preternaturally quiet, but I'll thank Gaia for that. My pack's not really going anywhere, but I'm
 hoping that some of the newer Garou will show an interest once they've completed their 
Chiminage. I'm hoping to make a go-between pack based out of Kent Crossing dedicated to 
trying to keep lines of communication open between the Glass Walkers and Bone Gnawers 
in the city, and the rest of us out here. Not nearly as sexy as being a spooky theurge pack or 
an urban warrior pack, so not nearly as popular to join, if just as necessary, in my opinion," 
she adds, with a self-deprecating smile.

"I did," Craig replies, giving his cookie a slightly reproachful look as he takes another bite. 
"Last week sometime," he mumbles around the mouthful. After taking the time to chew and 
swallow, he continues. "That's always been um kinda a problem. Communicating between 
city Garou and, um, forest Garou," he admits. "It's hard for some of us to get out here 
sometimes. Pretty glad Olga started being a go-between, otherwise we'd never hear about 
what was going on out here. I'm uh, trying to get more Gnawers to spend more time in the 
woods, kinda cause we don't get to run around in wolf in the city too much, and kinda cause 
we're losing touch with the people out here. So a pack like that'd be really good. Really 
good idea. Uh, not like you need my approval or anything," he finishes lamely.

Megan's mouth twitches again, trying to turn into a smirk, but being surpressed. "Olga should 
make sure to go-between with me, too, then, if she's making a point of trying to keep you 
guys in touch. What you *can* do is pass word along of what I'm looking for. I'd like a 
representative from the Glass Walkers, or the Bone Gnawers if necessary, or I guess both, in 
the pack. Also really looking for a theurge or a galliard, with a ragabash on the wish list and 
an ahroun if they're interested. Right now, it's just Tecmessa and me."
       
Craig nods slowly, considering his internal checklist of Gnawers. "Well, Julie's a Galliard, and 
she's been here awhile, but I dunno. I'll talk to her about it. And I'll tell Olga to come find you 
whenever she can. I don't think we've got anybody else left to offer, though. The tribe's kind 
of small right now." He wrinkles his nose, then finishes off the cookie. "But like I said, I'm 
trying to get more of us out to the Bawn. Shit, Bawn, that's the word I was looking for." The 
boy's face flushes red as he becomes acutely aware that he just cursed in front of the Sept 
Alpha. "Um...sorry, Megan-rhya," he says. "Sorry."

Megan's eyebrows arch, but her expression is as mild as milk in the face of Craig's 
embarrassment, before she breaks it with a grin. "No apology necessary," she reassures him. 
"But, not sure if you've noticed, but we're *all* kind of small right now. All the tribes, that is."

Craig studies her face for a moment, then nods slowly. "Yeah. There's less of us than when I 
was here as a cub, and that was after the Fall. Not a good sign." He scratches at his 
bright-red cheek. "And it kind of feels like our enemies are only getting stronger out there. I 
haven't been near the hospital, but I'm thinking of putting down a rule about Gnawers going 
there. It's too close to our home, and I don't want us getting it's attention."

Megan's eyes narrow thoughtfully, but then she nods. "The hospital has *always* been bad 
news, even after we went in there and whaled on one of the many areas of infestation in there.
 It's just a good idea in general to stay away from that place, especially in the Umbra." A 
hesitation, then she adds the question, "Are there any new areas in the city that are that bad? 
A few years ago, it was mostly the hospital and the sewers, since we'd done a job scrubbing 
up the Power Plant."

"Olga wants to go work at the sleep clinic. She went to University," Craig says, shaking his 
head. "She knows a few things about psychology, but I told her not to go. I think the sewers 
got cleaned out last year, but Salem and Alicia might know more about that. I wasn't involved.
 I know we're getting pretty bad flak at the Zoo, over on the Umbra side of things. Nest of 
Weaver spiders is around there somewhere. I'm working on getting that cleaned up, though. 
There's also vampires in a warehouse downtown, and a fomori-making apartment building 
that likes livers." He licks his lips again, and the scratching fingers move down his jaw. "I think 
that's it, though."

Megan snarls reflexively at the mention of the vampires, still scowling when she rubs her 
forehead with a hand. "Neither Salem nor Alicia mentioned cleaning out the sewers when I 
was asking to be filled in on stuff I missed. But," she pauses,"I'll ask Alicia about it again. 
Hadn't heard about the zoo, though," she mutters, "and I've thankfully not heard anything
 further about the fucking leeches or the serial killer with the livers."

Craig flinches at the snarl, then licks his lips and stuffs the last of the cookie into his mouth. 
"Yeah," he mumbles through the oatmeal. He's just about to say more when a beeping noise 
from his backpack draws his attention. In goes the hand, out comes the hand with a watch 
wrapped around the fingers. "Oh..." he starts, and nearly curses again. He manages to hold it 
off, however, bowing again instead. "I have to, uh, go," he says, the nervousness returning. 
"Time to relieve the babysitter. Lunch, and all." He swallows, then takes a step back, giving 
another semi-bow. "Thanks for your time, Megan-rhya."

Megan looks askance at the bow, then realization dawns and she scowls once more, anger 
present but muted thankfully by the smallness of the moon. "Of course," she says, and this 
time the words are clipped by the annoyance radiating out of her. "Send word to keep me 
up on what's going on in St. Claire."

Craig swallows reflexively. "I will, ma'am. Thank you, uh, again," he says, edging out of the 
grove. Once he's out of vision, the boy shifts, then breaks into a flat-out sprint, rushing back 
to his obligations in the city.