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  1. #1
    Hector's Avatar
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    Hector
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    4
    PRE

    In every urban environment, trash collects. Rubbish and refuse, objects discarded carelessly and deliberately, flotsam and jetsam cast high and dry by heavy rains, flooding, or else blown by wind - urban environments seemed to attract the stuff like iron filings drawn to a magnet.

    Now this mess has collected under the towering freeway bridges that cut through the heart of the city and mark the boundary of Clarion Call's territory. The space is all dirt and explosive stands of grass with scrawny wild bushes for support. Concrete struts rise like the huge pines for which North California is famed amid the neglect; the freeway above forms an artificial canopy that collects colonies of nesting pigeons who warble happily in the crevices and shit with fecund glee over the tired, painted, concrete and stained metalwork.

    A great pile of refuse has gathered here: a work of neglect and the hands of the homeless who time and again make a home here. For a time Hector claimed the space as his personal domain (many years ago) and now he is back.

    The Alpha stalks through the great pile, dragging a mattress behind him as he seeks a good spot. He is heedless of the noise he makes, barging through cardboard piles, knocking over cracked garden furniture, and at one point bodily hauling his bulky prize over a very large and remarkably well preserved television (a chunky thing from before the devices flattened out into wall hangings).

    Shocked by the racket, a flock of pigeons explode into the sky.

    Hector pauses as well - he's find some bags filled with clothes and is taking a peek. You never know what you might find and he really does need a new shirt. Currently he is bare chested and his shorts are way too big (held up by a rope). Bare footed, too. He looks like the lowest of the low - or perhaps a wolf who has forgotten to Dedicate his clothing one too many times...
    Endymion Bird
    Iron Master <<Farsil Luhal>> Cahalith

    Primal Urge: ●●●

  2. #2
    Bird's Avatar

    Street Stalker
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    Bird

    1
    PRE

    Let no sacred place in your territory be violated. Those are the Meninna words. And Bird lives by them.

    Thing is, you can't defend the sacred places in your territory against violation until you seek them out. Get to know them. There's the rail yard, of course. Guile's domain. Perhaps that's the only point of power in the pack's range. But Fa-ninna isn't one to make assumptions.

    And so he stalks the dark places, the forgotten corners. Looking, learning, memorizing the landscape (physical and spiritual) of his pack's territory. Today, he's investigating the very edge of that territory, under the freeway.

    The Irraka walks on two legs, silent and watchful, through piles of trash. The cars thunder on the road hung up above his head.

    And then: a sudden flight of pigeons. Bird is a Hunter. He knows what that means. Walks toward the movement, picking up on the sounds of someone sorting through the refuse.

    Turns a corner and finds his Alpha in his element. Bird is not shocked by the Cahalith's appearance. He's lived on the streets too long for that.

    Not wanting to startle Hector, Bird announces himself with one word: "Boss."
    Primal Urge: 1
    Crashing: Primal Urge: 1

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  4. #3
    Hector's Avatar
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    4
    PRE

    Hector's head snaps up. Initially his eyes are pinched and narrow, but once he spies Bird they soften and his face is contorted by a huge goofy grin.

    "Hey Bird! I've found stuff! You need threads?"

    As he spoke his hands continued to dig blindly through the bags: a pair of ratty plimsol's squirmed into view and plopped unceremoniously on the ground. The Alpha didn't look at them, his eyes still locked on the Irakka.

    "You on the hunt or just roaming?"

    They were alone. Hector dropped the act and ditched the human pleasantries: Bird was either familiarising himself with the territory, patrolling, or hunting something.
    Iron Master <<Farsil Luhal>> Cahalith

    Primal Urge: ●●●

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  6. #4
    Bird's Avatar

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    1
    PRE

    "Naw, I'm good," Bird says simply.

    He approaches with his usual silent swagger and eyes the contents of the bag. "Good shit, though."

    At Hector's question, Bird stops his approach and takes a moment to look around the area. Keen eyes sweep the mounds of trash, the weeds and grass, the dirt and concrete. They follow a piling up, up, and then trace the overpass that runs above their heads.

    Finally, his gaze finds Hector again: "Roamin'. Trying to get a feel for our ground." It's going well thus far. But Bird knows there's always more to see, to learn.

    "Glad I found you, though. Been thinking we should talk." He doesn't say about what. Not yet. The Alpha will either concur or tell him to fuck off.
    Primal Urge: 1
    Crashing: Primal Urge: 1

  7. #5
    Hector's Avatar
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    PRE

    "Actually... Yeah!"

    Hector at last acknowledged the shoes - then cackled with glee as he pulled a yellow shirt from the bag. He started tugging on the shirt immediately.

    "Then speak."

    He flashed another grin as he purposefully strode over to where the toppled and discarded furniture lay. He returned with one seat and set it next to the mattress he had been hauling.

    "In time's past I used to lay my head around here. The territory ends about... there... So me being here was a great way to keep the border secure. Now that was years ago and since then I've been bunked up at the rail yards and some of the little parks we got around there. Gotta keep an eye on those Anshega... Time for a change. Bleeds keeps watch on them. Which means I'm free to check our southern flanks."

    A bit of local colour. A bit of history. And laying out the land for his new pack mate.

    "Good to see another face this far out."

    He dropped onto his much abused mattress in a tangle of arms and legs.
    Iron Master <<Farsil Luhal>> Cahalith

    Primal Urge: ●●●

  8. #6
    Bird's Avatar

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    Bird

    1
    PRE

    Bird takes the seat Hector's dragged over. He pulls a crumpled pack of menthols out of the pocket of those black jeans he always seems to be wearing and puts one between his lips. Fishes out a lighter next. When the square's lit, he puts the pack and the lighter on the ground between them. It's clearly an invitation, should his Alpha want one. Sits back, exhaling a pillar of smoke.

    His eyes are on Hector the whole time. He doesn't talk just yet. Alpha or no Alpha, a wolf talks in his own damn time.

    Anyway, Hector fills up the silence. Giving Bird a little story. Which is good: that's what the Irraka's been meaning to talk to the Cahalith about. The past. Get a little more understanding of the pack. Where it's been, what it's done.

    That's what Cahalith's are good for, right?

    "Years ago, huh?" Bird asks, taking the butt out of his mouth and leaning forward a bit. Looking down at his reclining Alpha. "So, how'd you get from here," another quick scan of their surroundings, "to there." Meaning the rail yards.

    It's clear Fa-ninna wants to talk story. But is Hector in the mood?
    Primal Urge: 1
    Crashing: Primal Urge: 1

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  10. #7
    Hector's Avatar
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    4
    PRE

    A smile - a normal one, not one of his many lunatic grins - creases his lips and the Alpha exhales, looking up at the ribbed underside of the mighty express way.

    "There was four of us at the start: Iseult; Viola, Kid and myself. We came from different directions and journeyed alone... Well, Kid and I did; Viola and Iseult knew of one another, I think. We found the place empty of Forsaken and not many signs of Anshega either: not a sign of passing or trail mark to say where they'd gone. Thats a mystery to this day. Anyhow, we found one another and decided to pack up - us against the empty city. We didn't have an Alpha and we didn't have a Totem.

    "We didn't even have a locus to draw from.

    "Isuelt suspected there was a place of power in the rail yards and we went looking for it. Found it, too. And the Magath that claimed it. Our pack bond was cemented when we took the spirit down - it was a locomotive spirit twisted up on pain and fear; trapped there I'm guessing with no place to go. Yeah. We took it down in a glorious battle - it was a mighty beast and its breath was smog, clogging our noses; blinding her eyes; and turning our throats to firey ash.

    "So thats how the pack first formed. We called ourselves 'Nameless' as were the only dogs in town. No need of a name. Still no Totem. We... kinda laid claim to the entire city back then and we... roamed all over the place. The rail yards was the heart but not the soul. Not yet. We ranged far and wide, always circling back to the rail yards. That was where we met the most. Otherwise we'd gather where we found something interesting to chase...

    "I still lived under the freeway back then. That changed when our Totem made itself known to us and we started patrolling down town more. When someone had to make the choice to become Alpha. No one else wanted it, so took up the duty. I had to inspire... lead the way. And naturally, when the Anshega turned up in numbers we doubled down on the city's heart before they took our Locus.
    Iron Master <<Farsil Luhal>> Cahalith

    Primal Urge: ●●●

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  12. #8
    Bird's Avatar

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    Bird

    1
    PRE

    Bird doesn't ask what happened to Hector's original pack mates. The answer's always the same: dead or gone.

    Instead, he listens closely, smoking in silence. His steel-trap mind records the details without effort. It doesn't seem strange to him, how he can remember things so well. It's just the way he's built.

    Fa-ninna does chuckle when Hector mentions the original pack's lack of name and excessive territory. They were young wolves, looking to make a mark. But no pack can hold a whole city.

    "The...our Totem, Guile. What's the story there? How'd it make itself known?"

    Bird's keenly interested in the spirit. He still hasn't had much interaction with it.
    Primal Urge: 1
    Crashing: Primal Urge: 1

  13. #9
    Hector's Avatar
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    "Necessary Guile?"

    Hector looked up again. His lips quirked into a smile, almost against his will. A bark of a laugh squeezed out past his lips.

    "There came a time when the Nameless Pack had to take a name. A time when the pack had a few deeds under its belt. We were getting known among the local spirit courts. Ah... So! I was Alpha by then and made the decision to go hunting for a Totem. Simple as that."

    He shook his head and raked a hand along his stubbled chin.

    "Now at that time we were having issues with a small Spirit Court focussed on a hotel in the human world. What started as a hunt turned into an investigation of that Spirit Court - a courier spirit called Bell Hop lured - or guided; it was a bit of both to be honest - us to the hotel. We were expecting trouble and it didn't help that we were challenged and heckled by something in the shadows; something that followed us all the way to the hotel."

    Hector barked another laugh.

    "That was Necessary Guile. Testing us, I guess. We passed its test, but not in the way it wanted. Let me explain. Guile trailed us, even as we followed Bell Hop on its journey to the hotel. Finally, it challenged us to meet it in an alleyway outside the hotel and to bring tribute - a bell.

    "Hmm. I'll back up a bit. You see, we figured the hotel Court and Guile were vying for influence in the area: the hotel court needed people to visit the hotel (thats what Bell Hop was doing, luring spirits to where its Court could feed) and Guile wanted, well, a quiet shadowy paradise for it to hunt. Thinking the hotel Court had made allies with a Forsaken pack, Guile called us out with all the bluster Guile could muster and demanded tribute - a bell. We grabbed Bell Hop and bought it with us..."

    "Guile wasn't quite happy about that. I had to negotiate with our future Totem. It really didn't like us. I'm not sure if it likes us much better now. Ha! Mind you, it is a being of stealth and shadow... And we do tend to be noisy. I guess we do enough to keep it interested. Guile will definitely take a shine to you, though..."

    A pause.

    "And if you are wondering about the hotel spirit court: they were weak. Their singular play was having Bell Hop bring 'guests' to the shadow reflection of the hotel. They were a paper tiger. Guile, I think, actually wanted the physical bell from the hotel lobby. We gave it the Bell Hop spirit instead, so I guess it won that battle for influence after all."

    Iron Master <<Farsil Luhal>> Cahalith

    Primal Urge: ●●●

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  15. #10
    Bird's Avatar

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    Bird

    1
    PRE

    Bird listens. And listens. Hector just...goes.

    Then again, you ask a Cahalith for a story, you're gonna get one. Bird's only got himself to blame.

    It's good information though. A pretty comprehensive history. Bird is very aware that he's the omega. The new wolf. And he's keen to learn about the pack, where it's been, now that he's part of where it's going.

    Another long drag off his cigarette. "Yeah, I been meaning to bring it something... Guile, I mean. A gift. Tribute. Something to make good. You got any suggestions on that, boss?"

    After all, a spirit may like your swag. But swag don't pay the bills. And a spirit's all about proper payment.
    Primal Urge: 1
    Crashing: Primal Urge: 1

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