18/01/2006
Spinning, spinning, spinning. Since Veronica was allowed to pick her form, she's spent at least three quarters of it in homid, and most of that running around in the woods. She's scuffed herself up, even her new-old clothes, and it shows in scrapes, bruises and wet patches on her knees and elbows. At the moment, she's singing and dancing her way around the longhouse-side of Rainbow Lake. Occasionally she taps the water with a toe, doing a not-bad job of Three Dog Night's Joy to the World.
Pierces Ice comes up the trail at a reasonably quick trot. Her approach is audible, to those listening, but not overly loud. Just before she enters the clearing by the lake, she pauses and sniffs at the air. Her ears and nose turn toward the cub a fraction of a second before her gaze finds Veronica.
Veronica shuffles forward, hops back, humming as she spins in another circle. She's oblivious to the elder's presence for the moment, caught in the song and dance. Hop, hop, spin, kick, tap the water...
Pierces Ice settles down onto her haunches and tips her head to the side, watching. After a moment she lets out a soft whuff.
Veronica missteps and coughs when she hears the wolf sound, bringing herself to a stumbling stop with one foot in the frigid water. She pulls that foot out quickly and starts brushing herself off, trying to make herself more presentable. "Hello," she says, bowing a bit.
Pierces Ice looks up at the girl and pads forward, her head still slightly tilted. What did you learn, her posture asks. There is more question in her expression than would normally be there, perhaps unsure if the girl will even understand what is being asked.
Veronica chews her lip a bit. "I...um...caught something bigger than a mouse yesterday. A rabbit. So I kind of learned to hunt?" She studies the way the elder stands. "I tried to climb a tree, and fell out of it. And um...I'm getting pretty good at running around in the big wolf form. Hispo." She scrapes her foot in the dirt. "I keep getting off-balance in the middle form. I'm only good on all fours."
Pierces Ice slowly rounds outward and upward through hispo and into Crinos. She stops there, still in a crouch, and lifts one clawed hand to gesture to the curl with a curling finger, as though beckoning her closer. Make middle form, her posture indicates, while her voice says, ~Take Crinos.~
Veronica edges closer, licking her lips, then takes a three-point pose and closes her eyes. A few moments later she is in Crinos, and her other hand comes down to steady herself. Her lip twitches in acknowledgement of her moon, and she makes a short, soft growl.
Pierces Ice rises smoothly to a bipedal stance and again motions for the girl to, as well. ~Stand.~
Fledgling rocks back on her heels, then straight onto her butt. Grumbling at herself, the pup claws herself back to a crouch, spreads her stance and slowly wobbles to her feet. She immediately overbalances over and claws at the ground to stay up.
~Think of the wolf. Use your toes.~ Jacinta rumbles, reaching out to help steady the cub. ~Picture it. Feel it.~ It doesn't matter that Fledgling probably doesn't understand a word she says, yet, though it's not as if her tone in this form can be considered soothing, either.
Fledgling recoils instinctively when the claws come for her, her ears pressing tight to her skull and her shoulders hunching. She whimpers, then wobbles more, spreading her stance yet again. The Garou words may well have her stumped, a first for the pup.
Pierces Ice presses forward, taking the girl by the forearm to steady her, pulling her gently upward. ~Toes,~ she grunts, lifting her hind leg, and awkwardly putting her paw before the girl. The toes curl and flex. ~Toes,~ she repeats, the leg dropping before she loses her balance.
The cub's paws flex and brace in the soil. ~Toes,~ she tries, flexing her toeclaws and bending her knees. She wobbles still, trying to balance as a human would. Without a heel, she finds herself teetering again. The toeclaws dig in, and she starts to find the centerpoint.
Pierces Ice offers firm support, until the cub seems to be centered. Then, slowly, she releases the arm and leaves the cub to stand on her own. ~Toes,~ she says again. ~Use toes. Feel wolf. Not Man.~
~Toes,~ the cub rumbles again, her teeth bared in concentration as she tries a couple of steps. The first one goes alright, the second a bit worse as she lists to the side. The girl is overthinking as she tries to balance everything, step by step.
Pierces Ice does nothing to help or correct, now. ~Yes,~ she rumbles. ~Toes. Feel.~
~Feel.~ Fledgling growls louder as she tries to walk, looking like a stop-motion werewolf as she jerks and hitches along. She starts to pick up her feet like a cat with tape on its paws. ~Toes. Feel. Wolf.~ She flexes her paws and nearly stumbles over again, the movement shifting her out of balance.
Pierces Ice stands back, out of the way. Her ears are perked forward as she continues to watch, but now she remains silent. This, the girl must work out on her own.
Fledgling's lips are fully curled back in frustration at her slowness. She whines in frustration as she picks her way along, huge claws gouging deep. Her jaws snap, and she tries to compensate for an imbalance that isn't there. Down she goes again.
Pierces Ice grunts, wordless this time. She slides downward into breed form. "Ii. Practice again tomorrow."
Fledgling, flat on her butt, drops to breed form as well, the frustration translating into a girly pout. "Okay. It just feels so weird." She moves to her pile of clothing, doffed before she Changed, and starts pulling it back on. Her cheeks are going darker colored as embarrassment joins frustration.
Jacinta shakes her head, the plait of hair bouncing shoulder to shoulder. "Tomorrow, feel it. Stay an hour Crinos, longer. Close your eyes. Sit and feel each bone, each tendon. Ii?"
Veronica says, "Just sit?" She licks her lips and wrinkles her nose. "Okay." She rubs her arm over her face. "Can I send another letter to my brothers after?" The cub sits, watching the elder with careful eyes. "Has anyone been looking for me?""
Jacinta's head turns from the cub, gazing upward toward the moon. "We must take care. When you have learned a little more, we will begin looking for your other family. Your mother's family. When we find them, we will know if we may tell your brothers more." As she speaks, she turns back to Veronica, finally looking her square in the face. "There are dangers of which we must speak."
Veronica's head drops when she's looked at head-on. "Okay." Her posture angles towards submission and learning, though she only hugs one knee this time. The other leg sticks out straight along the ground.
Jacinta does not speak for several beats, the sound of her breath and the small plumes as she exhales, the only signs that she still lives. "Touch Deer told you of the other laws?" the Ahroun asks, finally.
Veronica nods slowly. "I think so. Don't mate with other Garou. Fight the Horned Serpent. Don't go into other people's territory. Respect an honorable surrender. Submit. Don't eat people. Elders eat first. That stuff." She hugs her knee closer. "What else is there?"
Jacinta again is silent, a small twitch of a frown at the corner of her lips. "It is good that you understand these laws," she says, haltingly. Then, "It is important that they be spoken correctly. Remember the words as they are given, as well."
Veronica hugs her knees. "I know them. I'm sorry." She pushes her mouth against her knee, staring at the ground. "Do you want me to recite them right? I'm sorry."
Jacinta fixes Veronica with an intent stare, measuring, studying. After a moment she gives a slight shake of her head. "Qanga. Another day. If you are certain you know them, let us go on." She looks around for the stick she'd been using, or a similar implement. Finally she grasps a decent sized pebble and uses that to draw her glyphs. "There are four we will discuss another time, and two we will speak of, tonight. Learn these words, and think on them. Another time we will speak of them, and you will tell me why they are our laws."
Veronica studies the glyphs, thankful to be back into an area she's good at. She watches each stroke as it's made. "Yes, elder," she murmurs around her leg.
Jacinta says "Respect all beings; all are Grandmother's children."
Veronica murmurs along with the elder, studying the glyph for familiar markings from the other glyphs she's seen. Unconsciously, her head bobs to acknowledge the new Law.
Another glyph, another phrase. "Do not suffer your people to tend your sickness."
Veronica traces it on her leg, eyes widening a bit as she mouths the Law.
Jacinta says "The Leader may be challenged at any time of peace."
Another nod, another recitation from the cub as she tries to memorize what she's taught.
Jacinta watches and says, finally, "The Leader may not be challenged during Wartime."
Another tracing, and the pup gives another exaggerated nod, rolling out her shoulders at the same time. She scratches at her arm.
Jacinta nods slowly and wipes clean her 'slate'. "Those we will speak of later. There are two more which you must know, now, and must understand."
Veronica moves so she can better see what the elder is going to write. "Okay," she murmurs, crossing her legs and planting her hands on her knees as she leans over.
Jacinta begins by drawing the glyph for Caern. She traces it several times over in one place, almost reverently. "Grandmother's sacred heart. The Caern. The one near here, that we protect. I told you I will bring you there, soon, yes?"
Veronica perks up. "Yes?" She shuffles her butt over for an even better look. "To the caern, yeah. With...the others. Yes." She sounds less pleased about that, but doesn't pout about it.
"Ii. The caern," Jacinta says, looking at her writing. "This law should be held above all others. If you must break another law to keep this one, your life may be forfeit, but your honor will be understood. Repeat: You shall take no action that causes a caern to be violated."
You say "You shall take no action that causes a caern to be violated." Very much unlike the cub so far, she doesn't ask a single question about that one. "Most important law out of all of them."
Jacinta says "Ii. This is why the role my pack plays is such an important one." Her eyes dart to the bison across the water. "We are the Guardians, the final defense of this Sept in protecting this Caern. If one walks the wrong way in the caern, and angers the Yua, they may not help in protecting when we need them. In this way, one is violating the Litany. Any action, though it may seem small, can have consequences we cannot see. Do you understand?""
Veronica's eyes widen. "Oh...How do you know where to go, and what to do there? Or is just being respectful of everything right?" She licks her lips.
Jacinta's shoulders almost lift in an almost shrug. "The Yua tell what they wish, if one listens, one understands." Then she seems to refocus and asks, "Do you understand that your actions, even small ones, can affect things larger than you?"
The cub is caught flat footed, and initially mumbles something along the lines of 'yeah, of course'. Then she reconsiders, ducks her head and closes her eyes. "Sometimes," she answers honestly. "I never thought about it."
Jacinta takes her pebble and tosses it out into the lake. "Look," the Ahroun demands.
Veronica glances at the pebble, and the rings forming. "Uh huh?" she says, watching each ripple. "One stone. Lots of rings." She gets ready to flinch, half-turning to watch the elder.
Jacinta points at the water. "Many rings, yes. Look how far they reach. Your actions are like the pebble. Think how far they can reach."
Veronica watches as the ripples move, bounce off of the edge of the lake. "That's not just for the caern, huh?" she asks after a moment of contemplation. "For everywhere..."
"Ii," Jacinta says, and does not add anything more just yet.
Veronica's head sinks lower. "So...what'm I doing wrong?" she asks quietly, her exuberance gone for the moment. The subdued Galliard turns her full attention back to Jacinta, her nose once again pushing into her knees.
Jacinta's brows rise and she shifts her weight as she looks at the cub almost sideways. "Wrong? Nothing. I wish you to understand this, that is all." She seems about to go on, hesitates, and asks, "Did one of my tribe hurt you? Say you were wrong, or bad?"
Veronica shakes her head. "Circles got really mad at me, when he was watching me. And we almost had a fight, but I ran away. And I made Circle Keeper angry, I think. I just...I thought I did something wrong. I don't know what I'm supposed to do, or how I'm supposed to be most of the time. I'm sorry."
Jacinta reaches out for the cub, cupping Veronica's chin in her hand. "You are a cub. You will make mistakes, because you are a cub. Do not appologize for being new to the world, for that is not something over which you have control. Appologize quickly, and with heart, when you make a mistake. We will tell you when it happens. Until then, continue to learn. Not every lesson contains a test, or a chastisement."
The cub sniffs, and manages to stop herself from crying this time. "Okay. Okay. I just...you know I want to do good. Do well, I mean. I really do. I don't want to fuck this up."
Jacinta grunts with a nod. Then, without really responding, she goes on with her lesson. "The final law that you must know tonight is this: The Veil shall not be lifted."
Veronica says, "What's the Veil?" The question is an unthinking, knee-jerk response. "And why's it important?"
"The Veil," begins the Ahroun in full lecture mode, "is that which keeps the qussaqs from knowing we exist. If the humans understood that their legends of our kind were true, they would fear, and they would attack. And because of the mistakes of the past, their numbers are too great. We would fight the humans and the Horned Serpent, and we would lose. There is history you must learn, but for now, know the meaning of this law. Humans who are not our close kin cannot know of us."
Veronica nods slowly. "So...no letters. Because my parents hate this kind of stuff, and might not be our people. Kin." She squeezes her knee. "And then there'd be cops and stuff."
Jacinta's expression lightens, seeming pleased. "Ii. For now, they will think you have run away. The postmark on your letter will be from Alaska. They will not know where or how to look for you. They will not endanger the Veil. Later, when we can, when we have found your other family, we will know if your mother, your brothers can be told. We need our kin. They are our connection to the human world. But we cannot risk the Caern, the Veil, by revealing ourselves too soon. I am glad you understand."
Veronica grinds her mouth against her knee briefly. "I won't ask anymore. When I can write to them...will you tell me? I won't lift the Veil to them, even in a letter. I know it's...this is something that you have to see and everything, if you deserve to."
Jacinta says "When we can. You will know. I will send word to my kin and ask him to begin searching." Another glance to the sky and a small sigh. "Take Crinos. Spend the rest of the night in that form. Learn it. Meditate on it for a while. Sleep, if you need, but remain in the War Form until you feel you were born to it. All formal meetings of Garou happen in that form, and the true langauge of the Garou is the one you heard me use - best spoken from a Crinos throat.""
Veronica looks up at the sky as well, eyes following the moon. "Yes elder," she eventually says. "I won't shift back until I can dance that way, too." A bit of mischief quirks the corner of her mouth, and she starts to shift. In Crinos-garbled wolf-speech, she bids the elder goodbye, then shuffle-crawls towards the woods.
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