Dedication

[Iseult]

This pack, it seemed, didn't like to sit still for long. Perhaps that was because they'd all become too used to having to roam to survive, or perhaps that was because there was still something restless stirring in their minds, something that made them prick up their ears and set their jaws to salivate...

For now, it didn't matter. What mattered was that most of the pack had left, and now only Viola and Iseult were left in the park...

A very loud, very busy park...

The sounds of children playing in the open field, the tromp of jogger's feet as they pushed themselves towards their own pitiful definition of exertion, the unbearable bleating of rude yuppies on their cell phones, it was all the messiness of humanity that Iseult just didn't want to deal with.

<<Follow. Need quiet.>> she growled out, her human throat struggling to replicate the sounds of Uremehir. She knew Viola would understand the gruffness of the words. All wolves did. The only form truly suited to the language was the one form where words were never needed, and thus it was always a struggle to speak their native tongue.

So, without a backwards glance to make sure her companion folded, Iseult took off at a light jog, headed east towards the Jedediah Smith Memorial trail. Her stride was designed to eat ground, but it possessed none of the fluidity or grace that one would have expected from a wolf. The movement of her limbs was too rigid, too regimented, too obviously chained to a cadence that only she could hear.

It served its purpose, though. Soon, she and Viola were far away from the human's play field, flanked on both side by the rising trunks and flourishing canopies. Without a word, Iseult turned left off the path and plunged into the greenery, high stepping over undergrowth until they'd disappeared from sight into the woods. Only then did she stop and turn back to Viola.

"Will this spot work for you?"

[Viola Jones]

A very busy park indeed. Corpse eyes track over the herd and mothers pull their children closer when when their eyes meet. Viola's a predator, one look in her eyes and even the dull witted could tell.

The guttural sounds escaping from Iseult's throat draws her attention away from scaring staring at the loud park goers. A single nod, and Viola shoulders her bag, and follows after the Cahalith. Despite her stature, the Rahu keeps up easily, more of a loping stride, then the rhythmic pounding the other women was doing.

Though the regimented nature didn't go unnoticed. Giving away more then what the Blood Talon had said about herself so far.

Following after, and into the green, Viola scented the air, holding the breath in her mouth tasting the forest scents and that of one earthy Cahalith before nodding.

"This is fine."

Bag hits the ground, and the Rahu follows, her features changing, shifting. Leaving Hishu for Dalu. "S'easier this way."

Looking at the fabric that hid the earthy women's form from sight, "Wanna do this now-now, or should I try and meditate first?"

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-07-16 12:37:37		Viola Jones rolls 6 to Dalu (Stamina 3 + Survival 2 + PU 2) (10 Again)		6, 5, 3, 6, 9, 8		2 successes

Moon Phase, (posted just to get in the habit of doing it)

[Iseult]

"If you want meditation," Iseult replied, slipping the jacket from her shoulders again, "I don't mind."

The Blood Talon laid her jacket on the ground, and then sank down on top of it. Her fingers began to undo the laces of her boots, nails picking savagely at the knots that sealed her feet inside.

"I hate shoes," she shared, glancing up at the looming figure of the Dalu across form her. "They've saved my feet tearing on glass, and nails, and rocks, but that doesn't make them any more comfortable."

Her fingers finally finished loosening the strings and she quickly worked her feet out and then stripped off the socks.

"I've been traveling like this for too-long," Iseult explained, indicating her own hishu form before reaching for the hem of her shirt. "Can't fool the sheep without cloth, but you can't stay a wolf forever. Sleep will pull you back. So, I've only been able to let myself run on four paws every few days. It's going to be a relief to be able to shift whenever I want without having to worry about what will happen to what's on my back. Still, things should be done proper, so I can wait."

She finished stripping out of her clothing, and began to neatly crisply fold them and set them next to her on the jacket. Midway through, though, her fingers found the slender shape of her joint once again. She frowned, considering, but finally stuck it behind her ear. If they were going into the Shadow, high was the last thing she wanted to be.

[Viola Jones]

"Right. Nice and fucking proper." least she should do for the memories of her dear ol' Da....and her new packmate.

"I hear you there. Shoes are like tiny foot prisons. I hate 'em. Used to run around bare foot. Even if It got my feet bloody. Stopped when Da Dedicated me a pair." a knuckle taps the combat boots trapping feet inside.

"I'm the opposite." she admits in a low tone. "Spend too much time on four paws. Throws a fuck ton of shit outta wack. I nearly came up to Penny and Kid, in fur. Then I realized that them talkin' to a wolf wouldn't be great in that stupid park."

Before Iseult's finished with the knots, Viola's eyes have closed. She didn't need to know what actually laid under the cloth. That was pushing it. Mystery was better then Memory.

As the Cahalith lays there, the minutes slip by. One after the other, until an hour passes....and still those corpse eyes don't open, thirty more minutes are needed before the Rahu finally feels centered, ready for this.

Eyes open, and flesh meets them, lines and hair. Not details. Focus on the fabric.

"You want the jacket done too?" she asks

When she has the answer Viola gets to work. Her movements are rigid. Methodical, brow furrowed with memory. Recreating the Rite taught by a Ritemaster father, the cloth and leather and denim are laid out, dominate hand reaches out to the flesh she shouldn't focus on, scratching it. Needing Iseult's blood, still with forceful movements, the nail that drew the blood is brought to bare on the clothing and methodically she draws a circle upon item, but only when she was done with the article before.

When she nods, hand retreating, the power brought to bare is bound, and the circles of blood disappear, absorbed into the fabric.

"It's done."

rolls

  Meditation

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-07-16 14:07:31		[03] Viola Jones rolls 4 to Meditation ( Wits 3 + Composure 2) (10 Again)		6, 8, 4, 6		1 success
2017-07-16 14:07:31		[02] Viola Jones rolls 4 to Meditation ( Wits 3 + Composure 2) (10 Again)		5, 1, 1, 10, 1		1 success
2017-07-16 14:07:31		[01] Viola Jones rolls 4 to Meditation ( Wits 3 + Composure 2) (10 Again)		7, 2, 9, 9		2 successes

  3 successes Dedication!

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2017-07-16 14:22:00		Viola Jones rolls 7 to Dedication Rite (Harmony +2 Meditation +1 Dalu -1 Park) (10 Again)		4, 9, 1, 8, 3, 8, 4		3 successes

[Iseult]

Iseult's lip twitched when Viola's nail ripped a short gash into the flesh of her shoulder, but almost as soon as it had appeared, the wound sealed itself once more, the mystic energies within the Uratha's flesh driving cells to multiply and knit the barrier of her skin closed once again. Yet, even with the wound closed, the scent of blood hung in the air, and Iseult's heart began to beat faster, and saliva began to slick her teeth.

She took a moment to swallow before replying, "Yeah, jacket, too."

And then, before she knew it, the Rite was done, and her clothing was dedicated to her. Grinning with a savageness that she hadn't felt in what felt like years, Iseult began to slip it all back on. Soon, she'd be free from their embrace.

Though, soon, she'd be free from the embrace of words, too, and so Iseult slowed her movements and turn a critical eye on the Rahu next to her.

"So, your pop was a wolf, huh? Wonder what that would have been like. Mine was a whole other kind of beast. Mom, too."

[Viola Jones]

Viola rolls her shoulders.

"Wasn't like much of anything. Ma never let me meet my Da. Hell, she kept us moving. Wolf-blooded. Hated it. Forced to breed with my Da for the bloodlines. She didn't want me to Change. But I did. That's when I met my Da."

Head shake, and a scoff.

"Would'a been better for her if she stayed. I dunno what it was. A curse, something. But a Murder Spirit followed us. Caught up with her. I fell into the system. That was fucking amazing let me tell you that. Da said he had an eye on me. Didn't come 'round until after I Changed though." a sigh.

Viola doesn't know, and and now can never ask or demand to know that if she never Changed would her Da have just stayed away. Disappointed in the girl he sired.

Her stare moves from the ground to the Cahalith.

"So. Look at me. Sharing," her eyes roll. "Is this where you pick up the conversation so I don't have to keep yammering?"

[Iseult]

"Least your folks knew what was up," Iseult countered, deciding to humor Viola and pick up her end of the conversation.

"My folks were blooded, least I have to assume so, but I don't think they ever knew. All they knew was that the world was a certain way. Raised me to be the same. Worship the Eagle, worship the flag. Be loyal to family and friends. Do your duty. Be loud and carry a big stick, blah, blah, blah. Long and short was," the Cahalith continued, sliding her own boots on again, "I tried to be who they expected me to be. I waved pom poms and made the base of the pyramid. Then, I turned 18 and signed up. Semper Fi. Afghanistan. Mujuk. Oceanside."

The Blood Talon's jaw clenched, and her eyes turned stony as images were projected onto them from within her mind.

"Don't know if it would have been as bad," she finally said, "if I hadn't been blooded. Don't know much about the spirit world, except that they have a hard on for fucking with us. Strange shit happened while I was deployed. Worse shit happened when I was discharged. Probably would have killed myself if I hadn't Changed."

Iseult finished tying the last knot for her boots and then stood up, meeting the Rahu's corpse eyes with her own untempered gaze.

"But, I did change, and that's why we're standing here. But, if we're gonna keep standing here, or anywhere else, I need to know one thing. What are you like in a fight?

[Viola Jones]

"But I didn't. Not until after." scion of an august blooded bloodline, dumber then any pup of such a line aught to be when they first Changed. And if that wasn't fucked up enough, her dear ol'Da said that her mate was already picked out and everything. Had been for years before her First Change. Some fair haired, pencil dick'd asshole. It didn't take a genius to realize why she headed south when her body healed enough to move from the pile of corpses that was her Pack. Well, after seeing to the dead. She wasn't a monster. "Didn't do me any fucking good."

A nod, assumptions based on that canter of Iseult's proved true.

"I don't know you. I don't know what it's like in actuality in the army. My frame of reference is movies, and with how shit they are with werewolf ones, then I can say that they're wrong. Full of shit. So war, and our shit. Can't be pretty." Her weight doesn't shift but if she was anyone else, it might have. "But...I've been that low before. Depression curling around your gut, getting up is shit. Walking through life. Worse. Everyone's just like, get the fuck over it, turn that frown upside down. They don't fucking get it." silent, and not subtle at all moment of 'I get it'.

"I can't picture you with pom poms." it might have been an observation, a shot of change in topic or maybe it was just a flat joke. "Ma wanted that for me.....I dunno if it was the normalcy or the popularity....I didn't get along well with others." not to say that she got along well with others now. "We moved all the time. Keep ahead of Da, but...yeah. I got in a lot of fights." and that was before Murder murdered her mother.

Raising with the Cahalith, "I fought because of slights, of assumptions, to prove myself better and because I felt like it. Because I liked it. I like the sight of blood and bruises appearing on whoever I was beating. The only time I wasn't numb, was when I made other people wish they were. Shit kept happening, and I kept fighting. Then I Changed and realized what damage thoughtless action caused. Now I'm different. I make-made myself different. When I fight, everything I do is to end it swiftly. Cleanly. With minimal damage to me, and mine....and them. I not saying that I'm not going to kill. In our lives that's a sentiment that'll get everyone dead, but I'm not going to torture people."

[Iseult]

"It's wasn't the fucking army," Iseult retorted. "I was a jarhead. Leatherneck. Devil dog. A marine."

She paused, and then shook her head, taking care to deepen her breaths.

"Was a different life. Same with the Pom Poms. Life abroad put her to rest even before Luna got here. Least most of the way."

The Blood Talon frowned then, eyes flicking back and forth, searching frantically for words that stubbornly refused to appear.

"Lots of different ways to fight. Is why I asked. Why I mentioned the pom poms, too. There's always been something in me that likes to reach out and grip someone by the heart, to fill their blood with my words, with my howls. I may not be the most poet or artistic gibbous out there, but when the time comes to get red in tooth and claw, my voice will call your blood up. It will also tell you how best to spill it. I don't give a shit about being alpha, or bossing people around. I just know that I work well with my pack, and my pack benefits when they let me coordinate them. At least a little bit. So, if you like to end things quick, I'll keep that in mind. We'll all have to drill together to really make it mean something, but I figured I'd let you know."

OOC

Sorry Sloth, I've had a brutal week. Also, sleep deprived, so salt!

[Viola Jones]

"Whoookay." voice dry and if Viola was anyone else, there might have been a eye roll involved too. "I meant what I said about movies. I don't know anything about the army or whatever."

A movement of her shoulders, it might have been a shrug.

"Chapters? Sure. I get that. There's lot of 'em in my life too. True for more then just us, or the People. So if abroad buried pom poms, what did Luna do to whatever - whoever you were? Can't have change much. Considering." the Tribe she swore to.

Viola listens to the gibbous' words. Eventually she nods.

"People see me. They only see a full moon. They all want me to be an unfeeling death machine. I'm not. I'm not gonna be." she says as an explanation and maybe an apology. Though there's nothing apologetic about her tone. "A Cahalith who can rally us. That's...good." more then just 'good' but Viola wasn't the wolf that was good with words. "Who do you think's gonna be alpha? You don't care for it yourself, and I don't...everything I seem to touch turns to shit. So. I'm not puttin' myself forward. So. Hector? Kid?" Viola wanted to laugh.

She doesn't though.

ooc

It's all good! Promise!