Making Friends and Influencing People

[Hector]

Hector laughs quietly, catching the Tequila and drinking it quickly. He does not interject when Bleeds Well and the then Tiny speak, prefeering that the conversation flow around them all, rather than keep coming back to him. Some Alpha's liked that sort of dominance - not this one.

"Yeah. Its never dull around here, thats for sure."

"Well... I'm no expert. My knowledge is limited to our legends, mostly. The Magath was... It was a spirit of railway lines and big machines. Fear. Lots of fear. I think it might have been some sort of locomotive spirit that absorbed too much fear and started acting out in the Hisil near the rail yards. Fear from other spirits fed it, I guess. And those rail yards were old and ugly back then - that whole part of the city looked like an ugly mess at the time..."

He shrugged.

"The Oath? That portion? Never thought about it much. We've always taken it as an injunction to hunt as a pack. Hunting a spirit... Or just looking for something to hunt... Thats like a pack right now I guess. We started doing it in the earliest days of the pack and still gather to perform it when we get a break. Or when one of us has found something worth hunting... You know, slip the skin, cross the Gauntlet, hunt as one pack. The ways wolves do. The way our ancestor's did, I guess."

[Emily Makerith]

Emily nods as Bleeds Well does his introduction. It sounded like the younger wolf.

"I mean... maybe. It's not something I try to do. Much. I only work on them for a few hours. Owner action counts for a lot more." She shrugs. "My brother, spiritually speaking, was looking into the Nature spirits. Thought he could find a powerful ally there for the Pure. I reckon he redressed a balance that upset a few people, but we'll see. You can come along if you want."

She smiles as Hector recounts the story. "Not long after, Old Groucho - uh, Tristan - found me in a gas station of all places. People come and go, but we've had a few stick around for a while now."

Like a family again.

[Bleeds Well]

Bleeds We’ll let’s the subject of the Oath slide past. His understanding is an evolving thing, the cunning and wisdom and wisdom of his pack mates have worked in harmony thus far. The purest falls silent, not wishing to interrupt the conversation.

So sorry, I drafted a response on my phone and thought I submitted it this weekend, but it was waiting on me this morning.

[Tiny]

"Its never dull as one of the People. If it is, someone's got a Sloth totem, and then its not dull again as soon as everyone finds out." Maeljin-spawn were the absolute worst.

"Train and fear huh. Hard to guess what it started as, trains can engender fear easily enough, so that shouldn't have made it magath, something else must have been in the mix. But i'll leave that for the Crescents to figure out." spiritual autopsies were fun and all, and involved a lot of detective work, but Tiny was only a newbie at actually figuring that all out.

"A traditional response, and quite common. The wolf is the pack, the pack is the wolf. Father Wolf hunted as the leader of his pack, and so we do so too. Sometime later, after we are settled, we'll have to revisit that. Are there any initiation rites I need to follow?"

He turns to Emily, "That sounds great. I'll be happy to go along." He hands over his cell number. "and if the pack needs a fax number, I have one." He says with a grin. "and of course, my legal services are available to the pack. Though I'm not licensed here, so lets keep the court drama on the hisil side."

[Hector]

Hector gave the Elodoth a curious look as Tiny continued.

"What caused a Megath to come into being? Never really thought about it that much to be honest. We just cleared it out, claimed the locus, and went in search of a Totem."

He blinked, again unsure of where the Elodoth was taking the conversation.

"Initiation rite? Nah! I mean, this is pretty much it. Meeting the pack and getting some sort of welcome. We are the only pack in Sacramento.... The only one sworn to the Oath of the Moon at any rate. I've made it a policy to accept anyone who seeks us out and is willing to put in the time to help around the place. Before - it just made sense not to turn anyone away. Now... Now we have the Anshega to worry about so its as much about defence as anything else."

He exhaled, still looking at Tiny.

"If you are wondering why we make it so easy... Its a Cunning thing. I - we! - know who the core of the pack is. Anyone else is extra. And that makes our numbers harder to pin down. It means our actual strength is always... you know... an unknown. Its an edge."

[Emily Makerith]

The Crescent shrugs. "Not likely to happen. An Autopsy, I mean. The Magath had been downed for several weeks before I crossed paths with the Call. I saw the thing stake it's claim and just nope'd outta there, man. It was a monster. I was never gonna take that thing and had enough to worry about."

Emily nods along with Hector, draining her second minature in a similarly easy fashion as the first. "We fluctuate a lot. Get a lot of drifters, in and out. Fact is, a lot of People can't hack as wild a location as Sac-town is. Or the maybe it's the way this pack works, and there isn't another to go to." She shrugs. They did seem to loose Storm Lords a lot faster to the flexibility and shifting of Red Wolf's children. "Nothing personal. Just.... Storm Lords seem to come and go a lot more."

Val. Roach. Allen. Nikolai. For a tribe that likes eliminating weakness, none seemed to hold out long.

[Bleeds Well]

Bleeds Well holds his tongue as the conversation moves from plans, to totems, and back to storm lords. He'd rather forget the lot of them came to call. Tiny seems to be fair new addition to the pack though, first one to not show up and make demands.

Alpha speaks of tactics again though, and it's seconded by Emily, "Alpha and Beta are correct," he eyes Tiny to see if the words sink in, "this is a wild land, it takes hard People to tame it. Wise and cunning People. People who announce their presence with a Clarion Call but do their work with discretion."

[Tiny]

"If we know what caused it to happen, we can stop it from happening again. The endless game of whack-a-mole is hard enough. I like finding a way of skewing the odds in our favor, even if its just a little corner we don't have to worry about for a few years. Obviously that won't work with this spirit, but when the next one comes, whatever it is, I hope we can track back where it came from and fix whatever caused it." Whether that meant clearing out a drug den or thinning out an overly potent park, spirits reflected what happen in the world.


Tiny nods as Hector explains the pack structure. "I've...never heard of anything like that before. Obviously it works for you, and i'm sure the Irralunim are thrilled. I look forward to proving myself to the pack." Tiny sits back in thought, puzzling through how that would work. From the spirits perspective they would see everyone as part of the pack sure, but would the Totem and engum? How would that fit in with any pacts to the spirits? Tiny pops a bottle of patron and down it goes as he ponders the implications. Wonder if the lizard choir might have some ideas about it. Let the tail go and just get a new one...

He nods at Emily. "Damn smart. 'Fight when you can win, harry when you can't' as my mother would say. Though from the sound of it this thing would treat harrying like an unprepared witness. And no offense taken. They are their own People. I plan on staying around, but you've probably heard that before. In a few months i'll tell you that I plan on staying around, and then it will be by actions, not words. Though, their actions reflect on my tribe's honor, so I will stick around not only for my own sake, but for theirs as well." Storm lords retreat just like other wolves, but Endurance in the face of Adversity is our Job. Up there with yelling at idiots, but that's a communal responsibility.

Alpha and beta, at least some things don't change. And I guess that means i'm looking at the chorus leader here as well. Or he's the surliest omega I've ever seen. "I look forward to learning how to do so. I am certain it will be a series of good lessons." Newbies always start at the bottom until they work their way up, unless...hmmm, haven't seen the Omega yet...

[Hector]

"Yeah we can give your way a try."

Hector was looking at his empty bottle, tribute from the diminutive Iminir.

"I mean, it snot something we normally do - but you bring up some good points and it would be nice to be a bit more proactive for a change."

He was clearly pleased with his choice of words.

As Tiny continued, Hector's head dipped to one side in an endearingly animalistic display.

"Omega? Don't think we rightly have one of those. The closest to that would be Brigit - but she is earning her place among us. And that deed is less about the clean-up Omega get. Its more... reclaim her face, so to speak."

A bitter frown crossed his face.

The other scene isn't in continuity yet - so Brigid has not revealed her victory at this stage.

[Emily Makerith]

Emily stirs a little at being called Beta, but says nothing. She had to get used to it.

She nods to Tiny's works, but with little else to add, for a chance, seems oddly quiet.

Apologies for this one folks. slipped away form me.