Tamsin
"It's easy," Tamsin says, her hands
planted on her hips, standing atop one of the more dramatic piles of
sandstone slag, looking out across all of the nature. There is nature
forever out here, it seems, nature filled with coyotes, nature filled
with little burrowing owls, nature filled with winter gathering up out
of the dark and ready to bring snow. Mountaintops are snow-blanched
already. She is halfway through her second bottle of some homebrewed
Fianna beer, courtesy of one of her buddies in the Sept and her hair
could use a wash but definitely looks rockstar grungy enough. "On the
mark, we both run -- falling doesn't count, okay? -- we both run all the
way to that bush over there," she points, using the butt-end of the
bottle, "circle it twice, then run around to the little creek, once
we're in the creek, or well once I'm in the creek you're going to
probably be crying like a little girl or a fat hobbits by that point, we
find the smoothest black stone possible, and then we knock as many
bottles off that rock over there," she gestures with the butt-end of the
bottle again, "and whoever knocks over the most bottles first wins. Which will be me. And whoever loses has to do whatever the winner says.
It's a fucking tradition dude."
Ghosh
"Tradition?"
Of
course he's standing out here with his hood up and fingerless gloves
pulled on like he's looking to steal a car tonight. Stamping his feet
and chattering his teeth all through Tamsin's explanation of the rules.
The notion that Rage protects a person from the cold is all a lie. It
isn't the Rage. It's the insanity that comes from running so furious all
the time. Hector is fucking freezing and this isn't even the worst of
winter yet.
"No wonder we're a dying breed! Y'all are sterilizing
yourselves swimming in the river in November! Why can't we find a smooth
black stone up here?"
Tamsin
"Because that's not how the game goes," Tamsin says, with pristine logic. "Because you're not supposed to be such a fucking wuss.
Jesus, don't you have any pride, Hector? Afraid your lustrous locks are
going to blind you and send you sprawling on your ass and I'll tell
everybody? Because you're probably right to be afraid of that. Or," and
she grins at him. Grins, teeth gleaming. Grins, eyes bright. "Are you
afraid that Loooolllllllaaaaa," and yes, she is being as obnoxious as
possible, "will find out you can't do this simple thing that Maria could
do with her eyes closed and kick you to the kerb?"
Ghosh
Obnoxious
works though: all of the fun and playful protestation goes out of
Hector's mutable face and he affects an air of steely resolve.
This
is how the Ragabashes always managed to goad him into doing stupid shit
when he was 18 years old and they were bored. They'd get a couple of
beers into the kid and spin him towards whatever dare they'd concocted
while he was in the bathroom. If the beer and the potential glory
weren't enough to do it the slight to his honor was enough to get him
moving.
As a boy his hair wasn't long enough to tie back. It used
to get in his eyes all the time. At least he can tie it back before he
does stupid shit now.
Hector discards his gloves and shucks off his jacket and peels off his sweatshirt as he counters her insult with a rant.
"Loooolllllllaaaaa
might want to have more than one kid with me. You think that's gonna
happen if my balls freeze off? You gotta think about the next
generation, Thomasina. Seriously."
His t-shirt joins the pile on the ground. Even in the darkness she can see the goosebumps instantly leap up onto his arms.
"Holy
shit--" He grabs the nearest open beer and tosses it back between
clattering teeth. On the exhale he says, "I could cut glass with my
nipples." The bottle clangs hollow on the ground as he drops it and
starts to lope towards the river. "I'm going to destroy you."
Tamsin
"Ugh! Don't you fucking call me Thomasina! That can be Thomas'
name," Tamsin says, but she looks pleased when Hector is finally
motivated. The Fianna jumps from one foot to the other, remembers to set
her bottle down and look around. Hector is already loping toward the
river, saying that he's going to destroy her, "The bush first, dumbass!
That-way! Hahaha!" when Tamsin
Tamsin shifts, yes she does, Tamsin shifts quickquick from homid to lupus,
and
a Fianna wolf goes streaking past Hector, and if a Fianna wolf could
laugh and laugh and laugh and laugh at the weak little ape-legs on him,
well okay, the Fianna-wolf is doing that.
The Fianna-wolf seems more interested in tripping Hector, to be perfectly honest.
Ghosh
"DINGBAT."
This
to her shifting when she failed to mention in the rules that they
didn't have to do this in their birth forms holy shit he shifts so fast
and gets his four feet under him so fast it's as if he almost saw this
coming. His reflexes sharp despite the lugubriousness late autumn brings
with it.
Tamsin-wolf wants to trip him. Hector-wolf tries to body-check her into the bushes as they scramble around it.
Tamsin
[DIE, ORC SCUM.]
Dice: 7 d10 TN8 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7) ( fail )
Ghosh
[HAHAHAH. body check time!]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 4, 7, 7, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
Ghosh
[jess is goading me into rolling damage]
Dice: 9 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )
Tamsin
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (4) ( fail )
Tamsin
[Ahem]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )
Tamsin
Tamsin
is faaaaaaar too bloodthirsty and hyper and excited to successfully
trip Hector, but Uktena-wolf sends Fianna-wolf flyyyyyyyyiiiiing like a
bird off the narrow path skidding over rocks pebbles going fall-hit-fall
there's a larger stone BOOM bushes catching in fur paws scraping down
and Fianna-wolf growls in her throat as she gets back up on all four
paws an expression of sheer dumbfounded dumbfoundery on her face shakes
her head ears pricked paws still firm solid on the ground, and across
the bond of totem-spirit Fog-generously allowing herhis wolves to speak
mind to mind says she
[laughter] seriously, Echoes, is that your best? Gondor would be ashamed; there would be no songs
and
she shakes herself, then stretches out running hard, there on the lower
path, runrunrun to the bush, runrunrunrunrunrunrun circlecircle
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )
Ghosh
[RUNRUNRUN]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )
Ghosh
They
look like a couple of lunatics running that double-lap around the bush
pushing each other into it and snapping at each others' legs and
laughing as wolves laugh with their tongues waggling out. Insulting each
other across their totem's connection.
suck it Lament not everyone is as good at falling as the Rohirrim
But
she catches up to him. They runrunrun around the bush and around to the
little creek and this is when she catches up to him they knew this was
when she was going to catch up to him even in his up-all-night
up-for-anything nature-boy form he hesitates a full leap from the creek.
He looses a high-pitched holy-shit noise and then he dives into the glass-black water.
Tamsin
the Rohirrim do not fall and they do not fail!
Tamsin-wolf
cannot take an insult to the Rohirrim standing down oh no, or at least
not slowly running, so around the she caught up ha HA take that and she
snaps her teeth at his hips then in the general direction of his ear
before veering away plunging into the water snorting when it gets up her
nose and she shifts pauses still with the coldcold water licking along
her belly up her chest and paws the ground and her vision is different
as a wolf and let's admit it Hector has an edge here but still
she looks and looks for a pebble that'll work
[PERCEPT ALERT, finding that pebble]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )
Ghosh
[-1G heightened senses
perc + alert -2 diff because he's a cheater]
Dice: 4 d10 TN4 (1, 2, 4, 9) ( success x 2 )
Ghosh
They
plunge into the water one after the other and a wolf-spirit's blessing
lets him see better than he would have but Tamsin's eyes are no duller
for the cold and the dark and they both of them catch sight of the
smoothest blackest stone at the bottom at the same time.
No
opposable thumbs in this form. Hector abandons his warm furry form to
take up his birth skin again and elbows Tamsin as he grabs for the
pebble.
[dex!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 7, 8) ( success x 2 )
Tamsin
[MINE]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Ghosh
[NOPE]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 5, 10) ( success x 1 ) Re-rolls: 1
Tamsin
[MINE.]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 8, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Tamsin
The
fight continues, Hector using his monkey-paws to grab for the stone,
Tamsin just lunging for it with her mouth, and first they grab at the
same time and so wind up missing, Hector's hand and Tamsin's head in a
battle for supremacy the likes of which the creek has never witnessed!
Because it's a good little creek, a sedate little creek! But Fianna-wolf
is faster this time, darts in again and grabs that smoothest blackest
stone up from the creek's bottom and splashes around to race
RACE RACE RACE RACE RACE RACE
Suck on that, orc-face!
raaaaaace
away
from Hector toward that brave stand of empty beer bottles who can't do
anything but watch their oncoming doom. They are not impressed but they
are beer bottles.
Along the way, she shifts back and that's
awkward, doing it while in motion like that, turning from wolf to girl.
Hair dripping, but clothes dry as a bone.
Ghosh
[CATCHING UP MONKEY-MAN STYLE]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 4, 5, 5, 8, 10) ( success x 2 ) Re-rolls: 1
Tamsin
[noooo last burst of wolf speed before girl power]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (4, 7, 8, 8, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 6 )
Ghosh
Turns
out that wasn't such a great idea: without fur the cold comes in and
punches him in the face and the solar plexus and the dick all at the
same time and it slows him down but he doesn't give up. Oh no. He does
not give up.
His story will change depending on the temperature of
the room at the time he tells it. That he shifted because he didn't
want to get silty water in his mouth; he who once bit a creature with
flesh so foul that he was laid up for four days afterwards with a fever
and chills and so much mucus come out of his upper respiratory system
that he was convinced he was going to die. That didn't stop him from
biting things. It just meant he's started doing a mental risk assessment
before he flies at things with his teeth bared.
Or he'll say he
shifted because he it was already so goddamn cold he couldn't think
straight; he who once chased a Wyrmling out onto a frozen-over lake so
fast he got ahead of his packbrothers and fell through the goddamn ice
but managed to kill the thing before Glen and Corey caught up and could
yank him out. Blood frozen onto his face and shivering so violently he
threw up once the adrenaline wore off.
He'll joke that he shifted at the end so Tamsin would have half a chance. Hector's jokes tend to have an air of truth to them.
Either
way he's cold as hell but it isn't impacting his dexterity. Not really.
He grabs up another stone and he climbs out of the creek and she knows
when her alpha has come back up because he whoops for air like the cold
has sucked it right out of him and then he goes stumbling down the path
after her. Steam rises up off his body and his boots are waterproof but
his jeans are sodden.
Tamsin beats him to the bottles. It will be another thirty seconds before he comes trotting up behind her.
Tamsin
Tamsin
is obnoxious, and she laps Hector once when it's clear he's moving
slower than he should be. Laps him once, just to be obnoxious. Just to
make a better story. Just because she can, ha, ha, ha, and she spits the
stone out into her palm after she's shifted, hair clinging to her neck
in strings, dripping down the back of her shirt. She squints one eye,
takes aim, and then throws:
"Urgh, I wish Glen had had a chance to
teach me how to use a sling," she says, "like the great Fianna did in
the olden days. Silver on the Branch, I ever tell you that story? I want
to be like Silver on the Branch," talkative so she doesn't start to
shiver like wussy ol' Hector.
[Girl power throw.]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 7, 7) ( success x 2 )
Ghosh
[so many 1s…]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 6, 6, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
Ghosh
Oh
and she circles him but does not try to trip him this time. He would
have fallen. She can tell just by looking at him. He would have fallen
or he would have thrown himself onto her to take her down with him. At
least he laughs. This is obnoxious but he's enjoying himself.
Age
doesn't mean anything to the Nation but he's 21 years old. She's only
20. If they had not Changed the world would still think they were kids.
Did she ever tell him that story.
"N-N-N-No…"
He's
exaggerating the force with which he shivers. If she thinks she's the
queen of manipulating people she's right. They aren't even in the same
league. Whenever Hector tries to project an emotion he isn't feeling he
has to get into his Zone and act. Like he's stepping onto a stage and
not standing in conversation with someone. He doesn't do that very
often. Right now he's cold but he thinks this is fun. Funny. Both.
And
they hurl their rocks. Tamsin's connects and knocks one over. Hector's
hits his target so hard that it bounces off its comrade and they both
topple to the ground.
Shaking so hard he almost falls down. He thrusts both fists into the air and lets out a triumphant "WOOOOOOOO!!" so loud it carries at least a mile.
Tamsin
Tamsin
can be resentful but she's not resentful right now she laughs at him
instead yes she does flicking her hair up out of her eyes again and
kicks at the back of one of his knees. There is one bottle still
standing. They don't have another stone, so they'll have to go and find
their smooth black pebbles if they're going to knock the final one over.
Tamsin looks like she's thinking about as she laughs, although
[I AM LYING TO YOU ABOUT SOMETHING. BE PERSUADED. Manip + Performance this time around.]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 6, 6, 7, 7, 10) ( success x 5 ) Re-rolls: 1
Tamsin
she
stops laughing, and stares instead at his crotch. Her eyes go wide, and
her expression is one of shocked horror, of stillness in the face of
something so what the fuck:
"Hector, your balls fell off. You just fucking shivered them off."
He won't believe it for long, but she's good enough that for at least a few hilarious seconds...
Ghosh
[NO THEY DIDN'T - intelligence + subterfuge]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 5, 5) ( fail )
Ghosh
Nobody
is going to believe her when she says that Hector believed her for at
least three seconds. But she sees the look of trusting shock on his
young stupid face.
He hasn't been sleeping much since he found out
Lola was pregnant. A lot has happened since then. Black Spiral Dancer
packs attacking the city Sept and elders being publicly punished and
chewed up by the earth and all that. With everything he's seen just in
the past month he ought to be glad he hasn't started having nightmares
about eating his unborn child yet.
So Tamsin looks at him like
that and Hector pulls back the waistband of his jeans to confirm her
suspicions and then he realizes she's just fucking with him. Scowls a
deep-deep scowl and rolls his eyes and his head upon his neck at the
same time and reaches inside his jeans to adjust his situation before he
pulls the sodden denim higher up on his hips.
It's hard to look stern when he's trying so hard not to laugh.
"What is wrong with you?" he asks and starts to stride towards her.
Tamsin
Tamsin: LOLs.
No.
Tamsin:
ROFLHAOs. The Fianna woman watches Hector pull back the waitband of his
jeans to confirm her suspicions and her expression of horror cracks
into one of total gleeful mockery, which echoes in her laughter. Because
she definitely begins to laugh, holding her ribs and hunching over like
she can't quite help it, because she can't.
"Oh," laughter, "my,"
laughter, "go," laughter, hiccup, "d, you, ahaha," and she takes a step
back, sort-of loses her balance and sits down hard on a convenient
stone. "You're, haha, Hector who didn't know where his balls were
hahahahaha misplaced them did you hahahahahaha..."
And so on and so forth.
Ghosh
"I'm gonna misplace your face, Hall."
He's
laughing on the inside. A little on the outside too: his voice is
strained with the effort of not joining her in collapsing onto the
nearest solid surface. It's his moon overhead. Not 'his moon' like all
Galliards share the same most-of-a-full moon but his as in the night he
was born Luna grew fatter. His personality is more cheerful and his
tales are more optimistic and his blood runs hotter than hers.
But
she proved herself the night Beloved Horror threatened to overrun Garou
from four different packs. She's proven herself at the moots and the
revels that follow. Though he teases her in private and in public Hector
loves her like a sister.
That's why he grabs her by the jacket instead of the throat or the hair when he hauls her to her feet to fight her.
Tamsin
[Aw yeah. +6.]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (7) ( success x 1 )
Ghosh
[+7!]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )
Ghosh
1: punch!
R1: leg sweep!
Tamsin
He
grabs Tamsin by the jacket instead of the throat or the hair when he
hauls her to her feet, or tries to at any rate. Tamsin, well. Tamsin is
laughing too hard to make this one of her finest hours of physical
defense or offense, so she dives for his knees. It is a galliard's moon
up above, and what are galliards best at? Having fun, fighting, pretty
much everything the other auspices wanna do except maybe some of the
theurgely pursuits: that's what Tamsin would say with varying levels of
politic. The point is, she's laughing too hard and when he goes to haul
her up then punch her she is diving at his godamned legs trying to knock
him the fuck down
[LOLOLOL. DexAth to bring you down, Ghosh. +1 diff.]
Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (1, 3, 5, 6, 7) ( success x 1 )
Ghosh
[ACK DON'T KNOCK ME DOWN.]
Dice: 6 d10 TN8 (2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )
Ghosh
[PUNCH TIME]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 5, 6, 6, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )
Ghosh
[dmg!]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 10) ( success x 1 )
Tamsin
[Did a mosquito just give me a love-tap?]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5) ( fail )
Tamsin
[Yes, yes it did.]
Ghosh
[yes. yes it did. LE LEG SWEEP.]
Dice: 7 d10 TN8 (2, 3, 8, 9, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
Ghosh
Tamsin
throws herself at Hector's legs but doesn't manage to knock him down
before her taller stronger more-fabulous-hair-having alpha hauls her to
her feet and socks her in the cheek. It is going to leave a bruise but
it won't impact her judgment or her coordination.
The fact that he
whacks her legs out from underneath her faster than any hypothetical
unseen bystanders could make sense of might. In a flash Tamsin goes from
taking a fist to the face to slamming onto her back in the dirt.
"Hee hee hee," he says, high-pitched in teasing her, before he moves to sit on her.
[NEW INITS]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (9) ( success x 1 )
Tamsin
[Uh oh. +6]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (10) ( success x 1 )
Lola Hawkes
It's
an odd day that Lola doesn't find her way out on at least one long
looping trek through the Forgotten Questions Bawn. Today had been no
different than any other, except that Lola may have slept a little later
than she'd intended this morning. She chopped some wood, ran some wire
for the fences she was gradually creating to surround the garden she
planned to plant last year. She showered, eventually, and dressed for
the cool autumn. By the time she'd left the house the sun was more west
than east.
She's been out all afternoon, and was still even
though the sun had long since fallen. She's consumed most but not all
of her water and a good part but not the entirety of her carry-along
food. Her feet were sore within her hiking boots, and she has four
times now stopped to unlace them and let her feet stretch and breathe
before getting back to her trek. It had become cold, but Lola was used
to the cool weather, and knew that motion kept you warmer than bulky
layers of clothes would. She wore jeans and a few layers of shirts
(camisole, tank top, flannel long-sleeve) and a heavy down vest over top
of all that. A hat and gloves kept her ears and fingers warm, and her
own motion kept everything else in check.
She had been
investigating a rustling that had caught her off guard when a loud
whooping howling noise cut through the air and bound over the hill
toward her ears. She cut the beam of her flashlight quickly down,
muffling it into the palm of her free hand, and whipped her head to look
up the hillside. A few moments following that a muskrat skuttled out
past her boots and away into the weeds. Lola's eyes hopped after it,
and she huffed at herself a little but didn't give herself too much
grief about it-- better cautious than dead, after all.
That said, she went off in pursuit of the loud noise she'd heard.
It
was some sackful of minutes that Lola finds herself coming upon the
scene at play-- Tamsin in some odd state of disarray, Hector shirtless,
the both of them wet and physically fighting, laughing, barking, who
knows at one another. Some Kinfolk may become full of fear and fret to
walk upon such a scene, they may assume the worst and hover anxiously
waiting for a victor before tending to the fallen. Lola Hawkes's eyes
did widen for a moment, but only that, for it was all the time she
needed to realize that this was just a pair of Galliards under a waxing
Gibbous moon-- packmates, friends, siblings, working through a manic and
oppressive/liberating/carrying kind of energy with one another.
Lola
didn't say a word. Hell, she may even try to be sneaky for the sake of
effect, and she moves wordlessly either way to prop herself up in the
shadows beside The Rock That Hector Lays Upon.
[Dexterity 3 + Stealth 2: I Am The Bat]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Ghosh
[reflex-o-alertness! -2 diff because heightened senses that he totally doesn't regret activating.]
Dice: 4 d10 TN4 (1, 2, 4, 10) ( success x 2 )
Tamsin
[!!! You dirty bastard. You used RAGE!
1. Lie there and call up the power of Fairy Lights!
R1. Kick!
And I'll roll reflexive perception + alert now, hah. +1 diff because distracted and still cracking up.]
Dice: 3 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 9) ( success x 1 )
Ghosh
[1a: sit on Tamsin so the next two things are -2 diff
1b/c: punch/punch!]
Ghosh
1b: -4 dice, -2 diff
Dice: 3 d10 TN4 (1, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )
Ghosh
[+1!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )
Tamsin
[Flea!]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (4, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )
Ghosh
1c: wap! -5
Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (1, 2) ( success x 1 ) [WP]
Ghosh
[jesus that was close]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 6) ( success x 1 )
Tamsin
[Pfft.]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (8, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )
Tamsin
[C'mon, Pretty Lights! Help a girl out! -1 diff, thanks Fog.]
Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (2, 3, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ghosh
[ACK]
Dice: 3 d10 TN8 (4, 5, 5) ( fail )
Ghosh
As Lola watches her man becomes aware of her presence. That will be a good enough excuse for what happens next:
Hector
sits on Tamsin's hips to hold her still while he wales on her and all
it really does is deepen the laughter that is already making both of
their lives more difficult for trying to suppress it. He aims extra hard
to throw the second punch but he doesn't bruise his packsister.
She
retaliates by throwing her marsh-friends into his face. Hector's eyes
do not respond well to this. No brighter than a torch it shines like a
spotlight in his face.
"AUGH!!" he yelps as he throws an arm in front of his strobed eyes and topples into the dirt alongside her.
Tamsin
Tamsin
has not, alas, noticed Lola coming upon the Celduin brawl. If she had,
perhaps she'd be jolted into ceasing these shenanigans -- then again,
perhaps not. Her wet hair is dragging through the dirt, and her abs are
beginning to hurt from laughter, hurt like her spine does from the fall
because even if she absorbs the blows that doesn't mean there isn't
necessarily a thrill of impact, and the laughter is quieter now because
she wants to geeeeet hiiiiiiiiim
[This is probably still a kick thing. Or maybe she's punching now. Either way: -2 for poor Hector's plight.]
Dice: 5 d10 TN5 (1, 4, 4, 7, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Tamsin
[Boom!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 9) ( success x 1 )
Ghosh
[OW]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (1, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Ghosh
[ONE MORE TIME]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )
Tamsin
[!+6]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )
Tamsin
1a. Git up.
1b. Punch!
R1. RUN TO DUFFEL BAG OVER THERE BY THE ROCK.
Ghosh
Director's commentary: Tamsin is keeping the lights in his face so he's at +2 diff to hit anything (blinded).
[1a: PUNCH
1b: jesus christ i can't see shit - stand up
R1: PUNCH
R2: CLINCH]
Ghosh
1a: -3 dice, +2 diff
Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (7, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )
Ghosh
[dmg!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 5) ( fail )
Tamsin
Tamsin
isn't fond of fighting fair, and her pixie-dazzle little marsh-wisp
friend stays in Hector's face, stays in his eyes filling his pupils. He
gets in a solid hit, but it doesn't have the force behind it that it
might have otherwise -- and then she takes a swing.
[BAM. Uh, I think this is -3 too? If it's not, oh well! We can take off a success or let the botch really shine!]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (2, 6) ( success x 1 )
Ghosh
[ignore me i'm rerolling his attack because i can't do math]
Dice: 5 d10 TN8 (3, 5, 5, 6, 7) ( fail )
Tamsin
[Kerpow-dmg]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (2, 5) ( fail )
Ghosh
At least this is entertaining for someone standing in the shadows watching.
Before
he struggles to his feet Hector throws a determined but wild punch that
skims off of Tamsin's knees. Once he's standing his packsister throws
one of her own. It connects but doesn't do any damage.
"Ugh, these
things SUCK!" he says of the lights that are still in his face. For the
first time all night he sounds as if he's starting to get angry.
[R1: POW.]
Dice: 7 d10 TN8 (2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8) ( success x 1 )
Ghosh
[hahahaha dmg]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (2, 5, 6) ( success x 1 )
Tamsin
[What's goin' on?]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 8) ( success x 1 )
Tamsin
[RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN TO THE DUFFEL BAG OF LIFE (and beer).]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 8, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Lola Hawkes
Lola
had set herself up leaning against the rock, and had just settled her
pack quietly on the ground beside her. When she lifted her head, she
was a little surprised to see Tamsin flinging herself directly toward
her. It's at this point that she realizes the duffle bag near her
boots, and that this was the Fianna's goal.
In the shadows, a flame of mischief blooms in Lola's mind, and she lets it grow.
When
Tamsin scuffles her way near, just as soon as her hands go for the
duffle, Lola's flashlight comes on and illuminates the Kinswoman's face
from underneath. She's grinning viciously, but doesn't raise her voice
and instead simply utters:
"Boo."
Ghosh
Tamsin
turns to run and he hears her turn to run but he throws his arms out to
grab her anyway. At this point it has less to do with wanting to keep
her from escaping and more to do with not being able to see. From the
distance she's at Lola can not only hear but see his breathing has
picked up from a flash of anxiety that tried to catch a spark in his
chest.
But the same thing that has him blinded by some goddamn
pussy-ass faerie lights has him able to hear twig-snaps and feel heavy
footfalls on the earth. Beyond that: he is more attuned to the unseen
than he or anyone else gives him credit. He can sense the spirits in the
woods around him. Hear the singing of his sister's ancestry and smell
the new life underneath the chill.
Heat is pouring out of him like
blood from a nicked artery and he's shaking from the cold and he stands
breathing fast and shallow and erratic but he wears a look of blind
peace on his face that no one else sees because Tamsin has run off
towards her bag and Lola is waiting for her.
Tamsin
[Wits!
And I'm also around for a bit more :)]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (5, 5, 8) ( success x 1 )
Tamsin
Tamsin's
faerie lights finally dissipate, drifting into wisps of glow that fade
and fade into the air, smoke-like, and over by the duffel --
Over
by the duffel, Lola looms, and Tamsin comes up short, her sneakers
squelching loud against the desert ground, her eyes wide and her breath
catching in her throat. Then she laughs:
"Lola! I'm sorry," and
she glances over her shoulder, somewhat wickedly, checking Hector's
position with a subconscious lift of her shoulders like she's worried he
might still tackle her from behind because he might!, "that you weren't
around like, ten minutes ago. That would have been the best thing in
the world," and then she hugs Lola hard!
And shamelessly. Hector won't seek vengeance if she's hugging Lola.
Lola Hawkes
Tamsin
stops short, and when the recognition flashes in her eyes and floods
across her face from there, Lola switches the flashlight off. It was
going to get set down, but then Tamsin swooped in for a hug. So,
without the chance to lean down toward the packed earth, Lola kept the
device in her hand when she wrapped her arms back around the more
petite, younger woman.
Tamsin hugged hard, but Lola was a sturdy
woman and didn't suffer from discomfort for it, physically or in her
sense of survival (for that Rage pressed close, was warm against her
front and around her ribs).
"Why? Would you've let me tag in for
Hector after you blew his eyes out?" Fingers go briefly to the back of
Tamsin's shoulders, enforcing a squeeze to punctuate the end of the hug
before releasing her. She switched her attention, for the moment, from
one Galliard to the other.
"How's your pride holding up over there?"
Ghosh
"Now that we've e-established my b-b-balls haven't actually f-fallen off..."
Okay.
It's like thirty degrees Fahrenheit, falling, and he's soaking wet and
naked to the waist. All his clothes are in a pile by the rock and even
after the little marshlings go flittering off his eyes are still briefly
useless. He blinks like the ghost of a bulb-flash still haunts his
vision and he starts to pick his way across the uneven terrain towards
his people.
His voice goes up in pitch half-a-step.
"...
it's alright. Y-Y-Y'know? Tradition. Tradition s-says you h-have to swim
in the creek when it's almost w-winter. The Gh-Ghosh name is still
g-g-g-good."
He finishes his trek and punches Tamsin in the
shoulder one last time for good measure before he clatters into a crouch
to retrieve his bundle of clothes.
Mary Thundercloud
She
stood a small distance away, simply watching. The black sweatshirt hood
was pulled up over her head and low enough to shadow her terrible face.
Dark blue jeans and a pair of thick hand sewn shoes made out of some
fur and hide. Everything was baggy on her, save for the shoes, and hid
those little trinkets that the Twisted hair always had upon her being.
For now, one of those things rolled in her hand; it's skin colored a
deep crimson red. It was the only thing about her that smelled and if it
were not for that apple in hand, there would be no scent at all coming
off of her; such was a curse.. and a blessing.
Tamsin
Lola
is warm. Tamsin keeps her arms around Lola and inches around her,
scowling at Hector when he punches her in the arm. Then she releases the
kinswoman in order to crouch by the duffel and unzip it. There aren't
clothes in there, although if Tamsin were human, if she were likely to
catch cold, she should probably think about drying her hair off. As it
is, she just takes out another unmarked bottle of home-brewed beer. Lola
might recognize the handmade label as belonging to one of the old
school Fianna of the Sept of Forgotten questions. Tamsin starts to offer
it one to Lola and then apparently changes her mind, uses the bottle to
punctuate her gestures instead. Her gestures? Why yes, Tamsin is
gesturing as she says, "Dude, no way. But you'd've seen the best thing
ever right before we fought. The best thing ever. I'm going to have to
put it into fucking poetry and it's going to be the kind of poetry that
the moon gets drunk laughing on."
"We were doing the obstacle
course thing that Maria taught us the first time we, well, I, so I guess
all of us, were here. The one from that rock to that one to the creek
to the bottles with the black stones." As Tamsin points out the
locations (using the bottle), she comes to see a very still figure a
small distance away watching. Tamsin blinks, unsure if what she's
looking at is real. Alertness is not Tamsin's forte.
Lola Hawkes
There
was a desire somewhere in Lola's heart to give her legs one last rest
before she started the walk back to the log house that she and Hector
and Celduin, when they desired, could call home. She was going to sink
into a sit and share what was left of the food in her pack, but she came
upon a pair of very familiar Gibbous Mooned Wolves tossling about,
soaking wet and playing footsie with Pneumonia (oh don't worry, they'd
never go all the way).
Instead, Tamsin scooted around her before
seizing a bottle of beer from her pack. There's a moment where the
bottle's cap is aimed toward Lola, sweeping through the air to be
delivered to her, but then it stops and switches direction. Taps the
air and withdraws, because Tamsin was using it as a pointer to take back
the initial reflex to offer. Lola's eyebrows skip up on her face for
half a moment, but then there's Hector crouched down a few feet away
gathering up his clothes and shaking for how the cold seized his naked
upper half and clung to his sopping wet hair.
"Well, that sounds
like a fuck of a thing to miss," Lola said to Tamsin, prompting her to
begin the story of what had happened. As Tamsin spoke, Lola also
crouched down and went for her pack. The flashlight was distractedly
tucked under her arm, and a canteen was removed from a bungee strap on
the pack's front. This canteen is offered over to Hector once he's got
his shirt on. She may have been about to say something to him, but
Tamsin's story stopped unfinished and her attention was focused
elsewhere, beyond them.
Lola's eyes followed, canteen still held
out to the Celduin Alpha, and her spine straightened and chin lifted and
shoulders rolled back to spread and make more impressive her chest.
She's done this once before, and apparently her mood tonight warrants it.
(Or,
perhaps, a sense of threat and surveillance over the past week that has
ratcheted up her sense of territorial protective paranoia.)
"HEY,"
she half-shouts across the distance, and her voice comes from a place
deep in her chest when she does so. Her chin jerks up, obviously, so
the gesture could be recognized from across the distance. It's a
challenge right out the gate-- come on, make a move. "Who's lurking,
huh?"
Mary Thundercloud
A
deep chuckle rumbled from her chest like gravel under boots. She tossed
the apple, arching it high to reach Lola. And turned then to head
towards the assembly area of the cearn.
Ghosh
Before
he pulls on his shirt Hector flings it over each shoulder a couple of
times to knock loose the dirt still clung to him from where he crashed
into the ground a few moments ago. Dirt and bits of dead leaves still
cling to his hair but he can ignore that for now. He pulls the t-shirt
on and then dives shaking into his sweatshirt.
Makes a noise somewhere between brainless animal relief and holy shit it's too cold for this
leaves his throat once he's got his arms inside his sleeves and the
entire affair pulled down over his torso. Hector's teeth stop knocking
together and his breath stops rattling in and out of his chest.
Of all the auspices Lola could choose to spend time with she has to spend her time with the one capable of such great theatrics.
He
pulls his fingerless gloves on again and dusts off his army jacket.
Lola offers him the canteen and he takes it without a word. Still
crouched. He rests his forehead against her hip in wordless gratitude
before he undoes the cap with steady hands and takes a swig.
Then the scent of apple catches his attention. Lola lifts her voice to call out to the stranger.
Hector
rises from his crouch. His jeans are going to freeze if he doesn't get
inside soon but he's not concerned with that now. Shivers still course
up his core but he's not practically convulsing anymore. The stranger
can feel his gaze on her through the darkness. Though he is the
true-born of the two Uktena he does not supersede the female's question
with his own.
That's because he has to shoot a hand out to catch
the apple as it flies majestic and originless through the air towards
them. The female wanders off. Hector scoffs and looks down at the apple
but does not toss it. He puts it into his pocket. He'll use it to track
her down later.
"Let's go home," he says. "Tamsin, bring your crappy beer, you can stay with us tonight."
Tamsin
"Weird," the Fianna comments, and thinks with certain taught-prejudice, probably a metis.
She doesn't say it aloud. Tamsin is much quieter than Hector. Keeps
things closer to her vest. It can be more difficult to know her. Tamsin
pops the bottle's cap off on a rock and takes a long pull, eyeing the
apple that Hector caught and puts into his pocket. Her nose crinkles,
and then she shakes her head as if swinging her attention back to the
present. "Huh? Oh, uh. I'll meet you guys? I'm going to clean up the
bottles and hang out storytelling a bit. The moon's too big, Hector!
It's too big!! I'll walk you guys a bit. Lola, did you do anything
interesting today? Do you know how to use a sling?"
And so it'll
go, for Tamsin at least: accompaniement for a little while and chatter,
not quite manic, but clearly the Fianna is in a friendly (and somewhat rambunctious) mood. As soon as the booze begins to turn her broody, she'll wheel around and returnt o clean up.
And to storytell back at the Sept with others who are wakeful wakeful wakeful bright eyes the moon is big guys so big.
Lola Hawkes
The
canteen that Hector took a swig from came back spiced and warm and
watered down all alike-- rum and water and spices. Grog. She carried
it during the cold months traditionally. It used to be because that's
what she used to help keep warm when the hard cold hit while she was out
on these patrols. This year, though, it wasn't for her. It was for
fools she might find freezing out here on the ridges.
The figure
out on the horizon doesn't respond to the call as Lola had hoped.
Instead the figure's weight swayed, then an arm hooked something flying
through the air toward them. Lola's muscles bunch, she's lining her
eyes up with what she recognizes to be an apple when it spins its way
closer. She planned to catch it and send it flying back just as fast to
the person who threw it-- she was going to use her trained eye and try
to line up a shot with the retreating back.
Her arm had barely
jerked to lift her hand, but Hector was a bit faster and nabbed the
fruit from the air first. It was tucked away into his pocket, and Lola
turned her head to look at him, nostrils briefly flared but that passes
just fast enough. It's at this point that she looks at the state of his
hair, his jeans. Attention shifted over to Tamsin, and the state of
her hair and damp skin is accounted for as well.
Hector's already inviting Tamsin home, and Lola takes the flask away from him so that she can pass it over to Tamsin instead. Drink, it'll help warm you.
As she's asked about her day, if it was interesting, if she knew how to
use a sling, Lola sniffed against the cold and hefted her pack back up
over her shoulders.
"Not especially, but I liked it just fine.
Both of you should wrap all that hair up tight in knots, otherwise it'll
be worse on you on the way back."
Tamsin will walk them part of
the way, but wheel around to go back to the Sept as she'd stated later.
This leaves Hector and Lola to finish the way home, and she'll stoke
the fire while he puts feeling back in his extremities in the shower.
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