Finds the lost
Feb. 28th, 2012 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shelbyrouIt is currently 11:20 Pacific Time on Tue Feb 28 2012.
Currently the moon is in the waxing Half (Philodox) Moon phase (43% full).
The Scarred Forest (North of I-90)
The forest is thinner here than it is south of the highway, though it is still difficult to see for very far. Signs of human habitation break the stretch of woods every few miles; roads, paths, farms, and the occasional out-of-the-way home remind you that civilization is encroaching, though in this area, the battle is not yet decided. Hardwoods mix with towering firs and smaller trees, still concealing some of nature's hidden places from the nearby humans. Streams and small pools are scattered throughout the forest, some large enough to swim in, some small enough to freeze solid for most of the winter.
Fresh stumps dot the woods, and almost all of the trees still standing are disease-scarred around the bases of the trunk, some only superficially marked, some deeply wounded; not a few are dead.
Once hauntingly quiet and sparsely populated with wildlife, these woods have fully come alive again. The scents and sounds and glimpses of animals, birds, insects are now as rich here, among the scarred trees, as they are anywhere.
This region stretches almost 50 miles north from I-90 into the Sun Lakes area, where the disease that scarred the trees appears to have been at its worst.
Obvious exits:
Tiny Cabin Great Oak Grove 23 Hawk's End Southeast Interstate 90 Grotto South
Despite the cold it's a pleasant day, though a promise of rain is carried on the wind. The forest is quiet, peacefully restive. Scents of animals and other larger inhabitants pass through the growth below the tree's canopy and criss cross every which way. Rabbits and the rare deer overlay those of the locals.
Bright Eyes takes her time quartering the area where Ky was last seen (or scented), the Ragabash carefully following up on each remnant of the boy's trace. She checks around the base of each tree and when there's only a single trail, looks up in a distinctly non-wolfish manner to study tree branches and possible means of escape. Her thoroughness is undoubtedly the reason her pace is so slow, though she's able - somehow - to pick up on minute threads of torn clothes or barely visible footprints and inevitably shrink the cub's lead.
The boy's scent is, rather literally, all over. Solid leads manifest into false ones, seemingly false ones turn out to resume on the other side of a small creek or somewhere down stream. Amazingly it all remains within the lands held by Equinox. But there's one point, a trail which seems to just end at a stand of three trees. Ky's scent and shoe prints simply don't continue yet a look up the sentinel doesn't show the boy.
Bright Eyes circles the stand, investigating each inch of ground. When she's convinced that the trail ends here she shifts to her birthform and tucks gloved hands into fashionable pockets. "Ky, come here." She doesn't sound particularly angry, merely exasperated.
There is movement, the elder Ragabash was right in staying around those trees. But the movement comes from one of the three a good jump away from the other two. Shoes scrape against bark, though there's care in the placement of shoes and hands. There isn't much in the way of litter when the boy descends far enough to be scene. He looks at Shelby, then casts a look around the immediate area before dropping the remaining distance to the ground.
At the first sound of sole against bark Shelby turns toward it, her eyes almost unerringly tracking to find him. It's almost as if she sees him before he emerges into the clear but surely that can't be right, can it? "I'm the only one here," she says, still calm. "I'd like to hear your side of things."
Ky takes a couple of steps toward Shelby, one hand lingering on the tree's trunk until he can no longer reach it. "Andrei's better off without me," he explains. "He resents that he's stuck with me, said I was insufferable and insolent."
Shelby blinks once, twice, and her eyes abruptly are no longer yellow, but back to their normal blue. A trick of the light? "And are you better off without him?" She holds up a hand to forestall the inevitable reply. "I'm asking honestly. Think about it. You know what you are, you know what's hunting you. Is it in your best interest to be away from other Garou?"
Ky is distracted from whatever mystical, light bending, eye changing happens, as a look is cast just to his side. It's as though he's reacting to someone just at his shoulder speaking. Without turning away, his eyes slant back to Shelby, and then his head shakes slowly. "I don't know what else to do. Didn't think you or Tim-rhya would ...it's not my place and... he said it's our problem."
Dryly Shelby points out, "Andrei hasn't exactly shown himself to be the best judge of what is and isn't fit for sharing." She arches an eyebrow at the boy before inclining her head in a companionable c'mere. "Technically this should go to your primary teacher, then to your tribal elder before anyone else. Do you want me to call Nik and ask him to come?"
"Andrei..." Ky's eyes flick back to his side, a small crease forming between his eyebrows. "I don't think I really have a primary teacher. And Nik-rhya... had something come up. He hasn't been here in a few days and we ...Andrei hasn't been able to reach him."
Shelby says, "Andrei is probably your primary teacher, until and unless Nik says otherwise." She pauses for a moment before adding, "You could also talk to any ranking Garou, such as Tim. He, at least, knows about discretion."
Ky sighs and takes another couple of steps away from the tree and toward Shelby. "I think Tim'll agree with Andrei. And maybe sometimes I do toe the line, but I've been working really hard at everything. At... at behaving and being respectful. Really wasn't trying to be rude or anything but..." He shakes his head.
"You think," she repeats. "You don't know. Sometimes I don't know what Tim will do, and we're packmates." She shrugs as if it's no matter and offers him a crooked smile. "Now. Having been in your shoes, I can tell you it will go much better for you if you come back under your own steam. I'll walk with you, and if you want to tell me about it, you may. Or you can give me your word talk to either Tim or Nik." She glances up at the sky. "Unfortunately I can't let you stay here alone, not with those dogs out there." Her gaze returns to the boy. "Which is it to be?"
Ky pulls at his lower lip with his teeth, looking up at Shelby. He sighs and nods, gaze sinking to the ground again. "Can I just... can I just follow you for a while? You can pass me off to Tim or... Whoever. Just not ready to go back. Andrei's probably glad I'm gone."
Pack> Shelby mentions, absently leaking exasperation, "I've found Ky. He thinks Andrei resents him."
"I wish I had your mind-reading abilities," Shelby says with wide-eyed and obviously fake awe. She pauses a moment longer, then nods. "All right. Tim knows I've found you, so we'll head towards him. I know this must grate, Ky, but no more running off, all right? Equinox is stretched thin enough with watching the pair of you. It makes our job harder when you two split up."
Pack> Tim gives a mental snort. "Maybe if he'd stop being such a brat, Andrei wouldn't resent him."
Pack> Shelby does dry right back at him. "And maybe if Andrei'd stop being such an idiot Ky wouldn't have to call him on it. --What these two need most of all is to get away from each other, not stay in the same small area."
"I'm sorry," the cub says quietly, sincerely. "I'd leave, if I could. I'm sorry you got stuck with us. If... If we survive this, I'll... find a way to make up for it. Bring rabbits to make up for all the ones my uncle is eating."
Pack> Tim sighs. "Andrei's a cliath and Ky's not, it's not Ky's job to call him on idiotdom, it's Xander's and Nik's. It sucks but that's how life as a cub is." He cannot, however, help but agree with the notion that they need to not be near each other.
Pack> Shelby says "True. But apparently Nik hasn't bothered to stop by for a few days." Her exasperation bubbles up again with a distinct undertone of: /Shadow Lords/. "I wish we could trust that splitting them up wouldn't more than double the headache for the rest of the Sept."
Shelby gives an appreciative nod. "I know. I don't want you to leave. I think mostly what the two of you need is to be able to get away from each other. You've spent the past how many weeks cooped up in a car, then a hotel, then a few days off and now you're here. I'd be stabbing someone, possibly myself, in the ear with a fork in your place." She considers for another moment. "So do I have your word that you'll confess all to either Tim or Nik? I warn you that Tim thinks you're being a git, but I can also say that he'll be fair about it."
Ky nods after a moment, still keeping a downcast view. "Yes, Shelby-rhya," he says. "I'll talk to both. Not trying to be a jerk or anything, honest. I've been really trying hard to just... learn and stay out of trouble. Except for last night, but... I really have tried."
"Everyone screws up," she says with another shrug. "It's not if you screw up, but what you do after you screw up that matters. So. Shift to lupus, and then I'm going to quiz you on the litany while we head back to Tim." Her lips twitch and she adds with a shiver of a wink, "The better you do the slower we'll go."
Pack> Shelby adds, "All right, we're heading toward you. He's given his word he'll speak to you and Nik. We'll be going slow-ish, so don't expect us immediately."
The following, "Yes, Shelby-rhya," is quieter, murmured just before the boy settles onto four feet. His head comes up slightly, though his ears are immediately splayed, eyes and nose taking in the sudden change of perception. He takes a couple of quicker steps, head ducking again, and he moves up alongside Shelby.
Shelby swiftly resumes her furred shape and aims a playful nip at the other's ear. Come. Tell me first law. She heads off at a jog, clearly expecting the cub to follow. As promised, when he answers correctly her pace slows, the pair of them meandering through the woods in a more-or-less straight line.
Currently the moon is in the waxing Half (Philodox) Moon phase (43% full).
The Scarred Forest (North of I-90)
The forest is thinner here than it is south of the highway, though it is still difficult to see for very far. Signs of human habitation break the stretch of woods every few miles; roads, paths, farms, and the occasional out-of-the-way home remind you that civilization is encroaching, though in this area, the battle is not yet decided. Hardwoods mix with towering firs and smaller trees, still concealing some of nature's hidden places from the nearby humans. Streams and small pools are scattered throughout the forest, some large enough to swim in, some small enough to freeze solid for most of the winter.
Fresh stumps dot the woods, and almost all of the trees still standing are disease-scarred around the bases of the trunk, some only superficially marked, some deeply wounded; not a few are dead.
Once hauntingly quiet and sparsely populated with wildlife, these woods have fully come alive again. The scents and sounds and glimpses of animals, birds, insects are now as rich here, among the scarred trees, as they are anywhere.
This region stretches almost 50 miles north from I-90 into the Sun Lakes area, where the disease that scarred the trees appears to have been at its worst.
Obvious exits:
Tiny Cabin Great Oak Grove 23 Hawk's End Southeast Interstate 90 Grotto South
Despite the cold it's a pleasant day, though a promise of rain is carried on the wind. The forest is quiet, peacefully restive. Scents of animals and other larger inhabitants pass through the growth below the tree's canopy and criss cross every which way. Rabbits and the rare deer overlay those of the locals.
Bright Eyes takes her time quartering the area where Ky was last seen (or scented), the Ragabash carefully following up on each remnant of the boy's trace. She checks around the base of each tree and when there's only a single trail, looks up in a distinctly non-wolfish manner to study tree branches and possible means of escape. Her thoroughness is undoubtedly the reason her pace is so slow, though she's able - somehow - to pick up on minute threads of torn clothes or barely visible footprints and inevitably shrink the cub's lead.
The boy's scent is, rather literally, all over. Solid leads manifest into false ones, seemingly false ones turn out to resume on the other side of a small creek or somewhere down stream. Amazingly it all remains within the lands held by Equinox. But there's one point, a trail which seems to just end at a stand of three trees. Ky's scent and shoe prints simply don't continue yet a look up the sentinel doesn't show the boy.
Bright Eyes circles the stand, investigating each inch of ground. When she's convinced that the trail ends here she shifts to her birthform and tucks gloved hands into fashionable pockets. "Ky, come here." She doesn't sound particularly angry, merely exasperated.
There is movement, the elder Ragabash was right in staying around those trees. But the movement comes from one of the three a good jump away from the other two. Shoes scrape against bark, though there's care in the placement of shoes and hands. There isn't much in the way of litter when the boy descends far enough to be scene. He looks at Shelby, then casts a look around the immediate area before dropping the remaining distance to the ground.
At the first sound of sole against bark Shelby turns toward it, her eyes almost unerringly tracking to find him. It's almost as if she sees him before he emerges into the clear but surely that can't be right, can it? "I'm the only one here," she says, still calm. "I'd like to hear your side of things."
Ky takes a couple of steps toward Shelby, one hand lingering on the tree's trunk until he can no longer reach it. "Andrei's better off without me," he explains. "He resents that he's stuck with me, said I was insufferable and insolent."
Shelby blinks once, twice, and her eyes abruptly are no longer yellow, but back to their normal blue. A trick of the light? "And are you better off without him?" She holds up a hand to forestall the inevitable reply. "I'm asking honestly. Think about it. You know what you are, you know what's hunting you. Is it in your best interest to be away from other Garou?"
Ky is distracted from whatever mystical, light bending, eye changing happens, as a look is cast just to his side. It's as though he's reacting to someone just at his shoulder speaking. Without turning away, his eyes slant back to Shelby, and then his head shakes slowly. "I don't know what else to do. Didn't think you or Tim-rhya would ...it's not my place and... he said it's our problem."
Dryly Shelby points out, "Andrei hasn't exactly shown himself to be the best judge of what is and isn't fit for sharing." She arches an eyebrow at the boy before inclining her head in a companionable c'mere. "Technically this should go to your primary teacher, then to your tribal elder before anyone else. Do you want me to call Nik and ask him to come?"
"Andrei..." Ky's eyes flick back to his side, a small crease forming between his eyebrows. "I don't think I really have a primary teacher. And Nik-rhya... had something come up. He hasn't been here in a few days and we ...Andrei hasn't been able to reach him."
Shelby says, "Andrei is probably your primary teacher, until and unless Nik says otherwise." She pauses for a moment before adding, "You could also talk to any ranking Garou, such as Tim. He, at least, knows about discretion."
Ky sighs and takes another couple of steps away from the tree and toward Shelby. "I think Tim'll agree with Andrei. And maybe sometimes I do toe the line, but I've been working really hard at everything. At... at behaving and being respectful. Really wasn't trying to be rude or anything but..." He shakes his head.
"You think," she repeats. "You don't know. Sometimes I don't know what Tim will do, and we're packmates." She shrugs as if it's no matter and offers him a crooked smile. "Now. Having been in your shoes, I can tell you it will go much better for you if you come back under your own steam. I'll walk with you, and if you want to tell me about it, you may. Or you can give me your word talk to either Tim or Nik." She glances up at the sky. "Unfortunately I can't let you stay here alone, not with those dogs out there." Her gaze returns to the boy. "Which is it to be?"
Ky pulls at his lower lip with his teeth, looking up at Shelby. He sighs and nods, gaze sinking to the ground again. "Can I just... can I just follow you for a while? You can pass me off to Tim or... Whoever. Just not ready to go back. Andrei's probably glad I'm gone."
Pack> Shelby mentions, absently leaking exasperation, "I've found Ky. He thinks Andrei resents him."
"I wish I had your mind-reading abilities," Shelby says with wide-eyed and obviously fake awe. She pauses a moment longer, then nods. "All right. Tim knows I've found you, so we'll head towards him. I know this must grate, Ky, but no more running off, all right? Equinox is stretched thin enough with watching the pair of you. It makes our job harder when you two split up."
Pack> Tim gives a mental snort. "Maybe if he'd stop being such a brat, Andrei wouldn't resent him."
Pack> Shelby does dry right back at him. "And maybe if Andrei'd stop being such an idiot Ky wouldn't have to call him on it. --What these two need most of all is to get away from each other, not stay in the same small area."
"I'm sorry," the cub says quietly, sincerely. "I'd leave, if I could. I'm sorry you got stuck with us. If... If we survive this, I'll... find a way to make up for it. Bring rabbits to make up for all the ones my uncle is eating."
Pack> Tim sighs. "Andrei's a cliath and Ky's not, it's not Ky's job to call him on idiotdom, it's Xander's and Nik's. It sucks but that's how life as a cub is." He cannot, however, help but agree with the notion that they need to not be near each other.
Pack> Shelby says "True. But apparently Nik hasn't bothered to stop by for a few days." Her exasperation bubbles up again with a distinct undertone of: /Shadow Lords/. "I wish we could trust that splitting them up wouldn't more than double the headache for the rest of the Sept."
Shelby gives an appreciative nod. "I know. I don't want you to leave. I think mostly what the two of you need is to be able to get away from each other. You've spent the past how many weeks cooped up in a car, then a hotel, then a few days off and now you're here. I'd be stabbing someone, possibly myself, in the ear with a fork in your place." She considers for another moment. "So do I have your word that you'll confess all to either Tim or Nik? I warn you that Tim thinks you're being a git, but I can also say that he'll be fair about it."
Ky nods after a moment, still keeping a downcast view. "Yes, Shelby-rhya," he says. "I'll talk to both. Not trying to be a jerk or anything, honest. I've been really trying hard to just... learn and stay out of trouble. Except for last night, but... I really have tried."
"Everyone screws up," she says with another shrug. "It's not if you screw up, but what you do after you screw up that matters. So. Shift to lupus, and then I'm going to quiz you on the litany while we head back to Tim." Her lips twitch and she adds with a shiver of a wink, "The better you do the slower we'll go."
Pack> Shelby adds, "All right, we're heading toward you. He's given his word he'll speak to you and Nik. We'll be going slow-ish, so don't expect us immediately."
The following, "Yes, Shelby-rhya," is quieter, murmured just before the boy settles onto four feet. His head comes up slightly, though his ears are immediately splayed, eyes and nose taking in the sudden change of perception. He takes a couple of quicker steps, head ducking again, and he moves up alongside Shelby.
Shelby swiftly resumes her furred shape and aims a playful nip at the other's ear. Come. Tell me first law. She heads off at a jog, clearly expecting the cub to follow. As promised, when he answers correctly her pace slows, the pair of them meandering through the woods in a more-or-less straight line.